Actress Bella Thorne once revealed her true motivation to join adult platform OnlyFans.
You may have first heard of Thorne through her role on Disney Channel's Shake It Up in the early 2010s, but the 27-year-old is more known nowadays for the creation of adult content.
The Blended star featured among the top 10 celebrity earners on OnlyFans in 2024, but it turns out that she didn't join the site for the fun of it.
Thorne made a splash when she joined the site in the summer of 2020, shocking fans around the world as the former child star charged users $20 (£15) per month to subscribe to her X-rated content.
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Financially, it was a wise choice, as the actress made over $1 million (£770,000) in her first day alone, with her first week's earnings estimated to be around $2 million (£1.5m).
But in a previous article with the LA Times, it seems like the real reason behind her starting the page has been revealed.
It turns out that it was all an experiment, though she did make money from it, starting an OnlyFans also allowed the then 23-year-old to do research for a film she was looking to make with Anora director Sean Baker.
Thorne was only on the platform for a short period of time, asking users a series of questions about the platform and how they used it.
She explained that she wanted to make a movie about a sex worker in the modern world, adding: "It’s a feature we are researching as I’m living it currently. What are the ins and outs?"
She went on: "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? How can it change your life for the worse and the better?
"How far are you willing to go, and how far do you WANT to go? You can be me, or this talented girl from Montana, and OnlyFans could change your life - if you want it to, of course."
Thorne didn't post any nude photos on her page as well, making that £1.5 million payday even more impressive, as she claimed in 2020 that she'd use the money to invest in a production company, fund research for a film, and donate to charity.
Her membership would be hit with 'transaction limits' though, and Baker would later deny that he had any involvement with the actress' OnlyFans project.
On top of all of this, subscribers claimed they were scammed into believing that she would be nude on the site, mentioning a screenshot where she apparently promised a naked photo for $200. However, Thorne told the publication that she never offered nudity on the page and that the screenshot being mentioned was not real.
The 27-year-old even said that she hoped she could use the page as a place to be 'more personal' with fans, sending them personal messages through voice memos.
Her page is currently inactive.
Topics: Adult Industry, Celebrity, OnlyFans, US News
Joshua Nair