[3] She ran away from home as a teenager, later stating, "I hated my parents, to the point where I would rather be coached by bums to sleep in parks wrapped in newspaper blankets.

"[4] In order to make a living during this time, Iijima worked in karaoke establishments, snack bars, Ginza hostess clubs,[4] and in enjo kōsai (paid dating).

[3] Iijima's adult video (AV) debut was All That Sexy Venus for the Tairiku Shobo Company's FOXY label in April 1992.

[7] In addition to adult videos in the early 1990s, Iijima also acted in a number of softcore V-cinema works including the August 1992 comedy Yuke yuke AV shinsengumi: Tenshi tachi no H na daisensō (ゆけゆけＡＶ新撰組　天使たちのＨな大戦争) (with Hitomi Shiraishi),[8] and the erotic suspense comedy Costume Gourmet: T-Back Bride (コスチューム・グルメ Tバックの花嫁), released in January 1993 by Japan Home Video.

[11] In December 1993, she debuted in mainstream film playing an angel come down to Earth in the Toei Company fantasy Purupuru tenshi teki kyūjitsu (ぷるぷる 天使的休日).

[14] In 2000, Iijima published Platonic Sex, a semi-autobiographical novel about a young girl who leaves home to escape her parents and ends up as an adult movie star.

[3][17] Another adaptation of the novel with Saki Kagami in the lead role was released as an R15 rated theatrical film by Toho in October 2001 titled Platonic Sex.

[7] With her pornographic video past a decade away, Iijima was so well known as a mainstream TV celebrity that many younger members of her audience were unaware that she had once been one of the top AV actresses.

[3] Items from her early career began going for high prices, and an unauthorized 2002 box-set release of her adult videos sold very well, until her lawyers took it off the market.

[3] Iijima's acceptance into the mainstream gave her access to the highest levels of Japanese society, including once having dinner with Junichiro Koizumi, who was Japan's Minister of Health and Welfare at the time.

[21] She made cameo appearances in the 2005 horror film The Curse (Noroi)[22] and the September 2006 police show parody,The Rug Cop (ヅラ刑事（ヅラデカ）, Zura deka).

[23] After the difficulties of her early life, Iijima's career in mainstream entertainment had been remarkably free of trouble for over a decade until she was victimized by an embezzler at her talent agency, who took about 100 million yen from her.

"[25] Whatever the circumstances leading to the decision, Ai Iijima's retirement at the age of 34 brought an end to what has been called "one of the more remarkable careers in the cutthroat Japanese entertainment world".

On March 3, 2007, Sports Nippon had reported that Ai Iijima was suffering from hay fever, pyelitis (ascending urinary tract infection that has reached the pyelum (pelvis) of the kidney), cystitis, and acute backache.