A former pornography star and “creator,” Bree Solstad, was initiated into the Catholic Church on Saturday. “I wept with abundant joy after I first received the body and blood of Jesus,” she told The Daily Signal on Thursday. “My life will never be the same.”
Known on X, formerly Twitter, as “Miss B Converted,” Solstad posted her conversion announcement on Jan. 1. “I have decided to quit sex work. To repent of my innumerable sins. To give up my life of sin, wealth, vice, and vain self-obsession,” she wrote. “This is a humbling experience, and one that I know may be mocked or questioned by many. I am giving up all my income and turning my life over to Christ.”
As Solstad predicted, she received some backlash from users of (in this case, the aptly named) X, to whom she directed her comments: “Your persecutions and mockery only make me share my love for Him more.”
Solstad, who entered the pornography industry as a young adult, participating in porn films as an actress and producer for about a decade, spoke exclusively with The Daily Signal on Thursday, sharing her background and conversion story.
“I was baptized in a Lutheran church when I was 8 years old and was active in that church during my childhood,” she said.
“After leaving for college, I completely fell away from the faith into a lifestyle of drunkenness, drugs, and promiscuity,” the former porn actress and producer explained. “I was a top creator of adult content on numerous websites.”
Solstad continued: “I suffered a terrible tragedy a few years ago. At the time, I prayed harder than I ever had in my life. … Jesus did nothing. I felt like God had turned his back on me, and so, I did the same to him.
“In 2023, I had an opportunity to go to Italy. The majority of the places I wanted to visit were churches … where all the great art is located,” she said. “But once inside these beautiful old basilicas, cathedrals, and churches, something radically changed in me. I began to appreciate the art and the churches themselves for theology they expressed.
“Unlike any Protestant church I had ever gone to as a child, the crucifix was always right there in your face. His gift to us was always plain to see as soon as I entered a church,” Solstad said. “In Sorrento, I noticed the Virgin Mary on street corners all over the place. I felt like Mary was calling me in the strangest way. From there, Florence and Rome became a whirlwind of kneeling, praying, and asking questions about the theology behind the best artwork in the world.
“When I came home, I quickly realized that I didn’t like what my life was like,” she said. “I hated my job. I felt disgusting and guilty for the work I had been doing for a decade. I couldn’t stop thinking of all the things that I had done and all the lives I negatively affected … .”
“I spoke to a priest at length, and that’s when everything really changed,” she recalled. “When he said God loved me, it felt like a shower of white warm lights cascading down on me from above.”
Solstad says her mother had been the only family member who had any knowledge of her career in the porn industry, but even her mother was not fully aware of the extent of it. “While lucrative, living in this lifestyle is very isolating and includes constant lying to others and to yourself,” she said.
Solstad added that her mother is understandably happy that she has quit the X-rated business.
When asked whether she is noticing an uptick in others leaving the pornography business, Solstad replied, “One former ‘colleague’ of mine has reached out to me recently with questions about leaving the industry and about my faith after seeing how joyful my conversion has been for me … . A few other former sex workers have reached out.”
“What I have seen is—many, many men reaching out to me to openly share about their porn addictions, tell me my story has inspired them to at least try to stop consuming porn or have asked me for resources to help them stop,” she said.
Miss B Converted shared that her favorite aspect of becoming Christian is having “fallen deeply in love the Catholic Church.”
“There’s such a richness in the faith … [b]ut what has ripped my heart into pieces the most is the Eucharist. Jesus is physically present in the Eucharist in every Catholic church in the world,” she said. “My life will never be the same.”
“This tremendous relationship affects every aspect of my life and has improved … well, everything,” she said. “I used to produce pornography; I now make rosaries.” Solstad gave up all her pornography-sourced income, and now produces unique, handmade Christian jewelry and rosaries, selling them on Etsy.
“I used to brag on social media about my exploits, and now I pray for myself and for others. I used to be a wretched, horrible sinner, and I’m still that, but I’ve been given the sacrament of confession and washed clean,” she said.
When asked about society’s role in helping porn workers leave the industry, Solstad said, “We need to convince women that easy money isn’t everything and that our actions have real consequences in this life, but more importantly for all eternity.”
“We are breaking down society, marriages, families, and relationships through the pornification of our culture … . We need to encourage women to embrace their true femininity,” she said. “We need miracles.”