‘I couldn’t afford bills and would steal food – now I make £30k a month adding saucy twist to Shrek’
A woman who was so poor she couldn’t afford food for her family is now making a fortune dressing up as a “naughty” Shrek character online. And, surprisingly, it’s not one of the famous ogres who is pulling in the crowds. Avalon Mira, who boasts over 344K followers on Instagram, first started dressing as Doris from the hit film franchise a few years ago, when one of her followers pointed out the resemblance between them.
The ‘ugly’ stepsister, who works at the Poison Apple in the movie franchise, has a distinguishable birthmark above her lip, wears her hair in a braid and sports a purple dress. The 26-year-old – who used to work in a noodle restaurant for minimum wage – says the videos were such a big hit, her audience quickly grew to 1.5 million fans. Avalon gave the character her own spin by making the unfortunate-looking animated figure “sexy” – and soon began receiving requests for raunchy videos.
She now makes up to £30,000 a month cosplaying as Doris. “I used to be so broke,” said Avalon, who is from Colorado, US. “I couldn’t afford rent or bills, and was forced to steal food for my family. Doris has changed everything. I've never made this much money in my entire life.
READ MORE: 'I was arrested for drink-driving at Christmas - what happened next changed everything'
READ MORE: Iconic Christmas film child stars now from Taylor Momsen to Macaulay Culkin
"I’m finally able to travel and see the world. For my birthday, I'm going to an island near Aruba and next year I'm going to Japan and Greece. My son and I have a really good life, and I’m so grateful for it.
“Sometimes, it still doesn’t feel real.”
Avalon wasn’t particularly surprised when fans asked her to perform “naughty” tasks dressed as Doris. She said: “People are freaks. When I first posted videos of her, I had loads of DMs and comments from people saying they had a crush on her and that I’d made Doris look ‘hot’. It was only a matter of time before the stranger requests came rolling in.”
The mum collaborates with other creators too, having done a Shrek-themed video earlier this year with 20 people dressed as characters from the popular films – including Prince Charming. But this isn’t the first time she has stripped off for an audience. Avalaon, who “loves” performing, auditioned to be an exotic dancer in the past – something she admits her family had a hard time accepting.
As for her new career, most of them have since come around, but she admits her mum doesn’t know the full extent of what she does. Avalon said: “I've danced my whole life. "I love anything where I'm up on the stage getting to perform in front of an audience. My family says no matter what I do they'll support me and love me.
"Even if they don't agree with what I do, they realise that I'm an adult. They think dressing up as Doris is so funny. But my mum doesn't know just how sexy I make the character look.”
These days, Avalon hires a make-up artist to help bring Doris to life – which costs £250 for each photo shoot. Together, they spend three hours painstakingly applying foundation to cover her eyebrows, as well as apply blue eyeshadow and dark pink lip liner. The model then has her hair braided and wrapped into a bun.
To finish the look, she applies a beauty mark above her lip and dons the classic purple frock, which she bought for £20 from Amazon. Avalon added: "People love it. "Every single video where I'm not Doris, they ask after her. I've always liked Shrek but I never thought I'd be in the Shrek community.
“After everything I’ve been through, it feels so good that I can finally provide for myself and my family.”
