In less than a week since making her OnlyFans account, Bella Thorne has made $2 million.
The 22-year-old actress joined the ranks of Cardi B., Tana Mongeau, Blac Chyna, and thousands of sex workers who were on the platform long before it was trendy. While OnlyFans became associated with sex work because it allows explicit content often banned on other platforms, many influencers are using it for subscription-based monetization similar to Patreon.
OnlyFans briefly crashed after Thorne launched her account last week, Page Six reports. The former Disney Channel star tweeted that she wouldn’t post nudity, but did poll her followers on what they wanted to see more of, including “tongue teasing, lingerie, booty, showering, and twerking.”
She’s charging $20 per month for a subscription.
Thorne told the Los Angeles Times that she plans on using the revenue from OnlyFans to fund her production company and donate to charity. She did not disclose which charity she planned to donate to, and her representative didn’t respond to request for comment. In addition to posting content, she’s also using her OnlyFans experience as research for a feature she’s working on with Sean Baker, who also directed The Florida Project and Tangerine.
“It’s a feature we are researching as I’m living it currently,” Thorne said to the Los Angeles Times. “What are the ins and outs? What does a platform like this do to its users? What’s the connective material between your life and your life inside the world of OnlyFans?”
Thorne has worked in adult films before; last year, she won PornHub’s Vision Award for her directorial debut Her & Him. She’s also working with PornHub to “implement a change in their flagging system algorithm to ensure safety for everyone and everyone in our community,” according to her acceptance speech.
Her immense success on OnlyFans raises questions over the legalization of sex work, especially as mainstream celebrities pull in massive incomes while sex workers struggle to safely pay their bills. The influx of already-popular creators, many of them white, flooding OnlyFans also increases competition for sex workers on the platform, especially Black creators who are often credited with building the foundation for the site. It also impacts queer and trans creators. Twitter users expressed their concerns for the newfound novelty of sex work in light of Thorne’s success.
I hope huge celebrities creating an OnlyFans and making huge profits inspires America to decriminalize sex work.
Bella Thorne is making millions within hrs while sex workers are dying each day due to the illegality of their profession. Change it!— Dedee 🥀 (@thoughtfulbae) August 26, 2020
Bella Thorne making an OF has me torn, cuz yay normalization of sex work, but boo cuz celebs and capitalism are going to ruin the platform soon.
— EeveeGrey (@grey_eevee) August 25, 2020
we’re like a month away from onlyfans changing so much about media in general and headlines like “bella thorne and kylie jenner: innovators of the year” completely erasing the primarily black sex workers who were harrassed and attacked while making it popular/profitable https://t.co/3CKcKOmNDS
— mustafa (@whocaresmanlmao) August 25, 2020
Thorne, to her credit, is working to dampen the stigma surrounding sexuality. In a behind-the-scenes video for Her & Him, she discussed the uncomfortable nature of pornography.
“If you think that porn is uncomfortable, I’m sorry that you are uncomfortable. But don’t make other people feel uncomfortable for being OK with it, because at the end of the day, it is sex, it is something that the human body wants,” Thorne said in the video. “If you’re scared of it, that’s fine. To each their own. But don’t tear somebody else down because they’re confident with their sexuality.”