PhD aspirant-turned-OnlyFans model Zara Dar has ditched academia to become a full-time adult content creator. The YouTuber soared to newfound viral fame on social media when a video of her explaining what fuelled her decision did massive numbers on X, formerly Twitter.

X user Sensei Kraken Zero (@YearOfTheKraken) shared a short clip of Dar’s new life chapter on December 22 (IST). As of now, the tweet has amassed over 34,000 bookmarks and more than 14.5 million views on the micro-blogging platform. Soon enough, the post even garnered the “STEM Gal’s” attention. Dar introduces herself as a “Texas-born and bred engineer who developed a passion for computer science and creating content” in her merely days-old YouTube video in which she officially announced that she would be pivoting away from her higher studies. She has been using her YouTube channel (@zara-dar) as an educational library to share her STEM-related insight with her followers (over 119K at the moment).

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Sensei Kraken Zero’s barely half-a-minute-long video clip on X references her original video titled, “PhD dropout to OnlyFans model.” The recently published X post states, “She used to make videos about Neural Networks, Machine Learning and other Tech Stuff, now she will be making content of a different genre.” Once Zara’s eyes caught the post about her, she cheekily commented, “lol that’s me!” The X user was subsequently quick to pose the coveted question, “Will you be posting educational videos on OnlyFans or adult videos?” Although the user never got their reply there and then, Zara took to her own profile to address the widespread “misinformation” that had taken over the platform. Admitting not to “have given any exclusive interviews yet,” she got down to “clarify the facts” about her latest move.

In a lengthy X thread, she addressed various issues of concern about her identity. Therein, she confirmed that OnlyFans wasn’t a novel career switch for her, especially since she was already “doing OnlyFans while pursuing my PhD, which started about 2 years ago.” The only difference is that she has not fully transitioned to it: “Now I am just doing it full time.”

Further down the thread, she dispelled queries about what kind of content she would create in the future. “I will continue teaching STEM-related content on my YouTube channel. Pursuing OnlyFans full-time has given me the freedom to learn and share new content,” she wrote online.

Zara Dar’s origins

Getting personal about herself, the model, who shares multicultural ties, admitted that her surname is Darcy, which she has now shortened to Darz/Dar. Her official website, https://zaradarz.com/, also shares some tidbits about her, stating her other passions beyond engineering: “I enjoy reading (DM me your favourite book), going to the gym, and just being outside.”

With misinformation about her ethnicity running amok on social media, she clarified in a follow-up tweet, “With all due respect, I am not Pakistani. I believe some people are confusing me with a beautiful influencer named “Zara Dar” @ZaraNaeemDar.” She has now confirmed that she is an American who was “born and raised with a mixed background: American, Persian, Southern European, Middle Eastern and Indian.”

In yet another post and a blog linked on her website, she detailed her traumatic past with deepfake content. “I never used another name on any social media, and this is my only X account,” Dar ascertained. “Unfortunately, I have seen many people sharing deepfake content of me, and some have mistakenly believed them.” A blog post titled “Deepfakes Almost Ruined My Life: Never Trust What You See or Hear on the Internet,” dates backtwo years.

Sharing how she was exposed to her own deepfake, Zara writes in the blog, “On a Saturday afternoon in December of 2020, I was finishing up with a zoom call when I received a DM on Instagram from an unknown account. I glanced at my phone, thinking it was just spam, but what I saw made my heart race. The message contained a photo of what appeared to be my face photoshopped onto a naked person’s body. The image looked disturbingly real.”

Her shock only inflated from thereon. Shortly after that, the person on the other end started blackmailing her, threatening to dox her information and family pictures. It took her a short while to finally grasp that she had “become a victim of a deepfake.”

Zara has since also informed her followers on X that she does not endorse any products made using her name. “Shortly after I went viral, someone created a meme coin after my name and used my photo as their profile picture on X,” she added in the thread’s final tweet.

Empowered by her new professional transition, Zara glorifies her financial returns through OnlyFans

Although she defends her new career pivot in her YouTube address, Zara is overcome with uncertainty. “Moving on to doing OnlyFans and content creation full time… it’s not just a career choice, it feels kind of like a gamble on the direction of my entire life,” she says. “Some days, I wonder if I’m making the right choice.” Despite it all, she drew a clear parallel between her old and new paths. Backing her OnlyFans move, which had so far been a “side project,” Zara extolled how she’d already “been able to make over $1 million,” which helped her pay off her family’s mortgage, buy a car, and avoid taking out student loans. With an investment portfolio, she’ll be buying a house soon.