Winner of Pornhub's College Scholarship is a 48-Year-Old Texan Mom

As part of a newly-launched philanthropic campaign, Pornhub held a contest offering a $25,000 college scholarship to one carefully chosen recipient. Applicants were required to be at least 18 years old and have a GPA of 3.2 or higher, and had to submit a short video and essay. Just a few days ago, Pornhub announced the winner to be a 48-year-old Texan woman named MaryAnn Uribe.

The San Antonio-based mother of two seems like a surprising choice for one of the world’s largest adult websites, but Uribe has an interesting story — one that involves being the victim of an alleged murder plot orchestrated by her former boss. According to the Washington Post, Uribe had worked as an administrator at a law firm in 2011 when she reported her employers to authorities for allegedly committing felony barratry. One of the lawyers put a hit on Uribe to have her killed, but the hired hitman ended up going to the authorities instead. In June 2014, both attorneys were indicted on felony barratry charges and are scheduled for trial in April 2016.

Because of trauma resulting from the ordeal, Uribe now speaks with a stutter and suffers from agoraphobia. She told WP, “Every little thing sets me off — strange voices or the dog barking or the postman knocking. It can send me to the floor.”

Uribe told Jezebel she was limited on most scholarships because of her age and inability to physically do community service because of the disabilities she developed after the defendant was released from custody. “He was on a felony bond already and after the indictment for barratry, the hit came and I fell between corrupt selfish political cracks of the justice system in Bexar County Texas,” she said.

Uribe recently finished a two-year program at a San Antonio-based community college and will now seek a bachelor’s degree for Political Science and International Studies from Troy University in Alabama. The scholarship will help her with the necessary costs that come with higher education, but she also says it has given her “hope that there are still good people out there who do good deeds to help others, simply because they are able.”

“MaryAnn epitomizes the drive for determination and success; from her indelible personality, to the resiliency she’s shown to achieve her goals,” the announcement on Pornhub’s website reads. “She has provided for others throughout her life, even in light of immense adversity and we’re all so proud to be naming her as the scholarship recipient.”

Image via Pornhub.