Sopranos star Drea de Matteo says she's paid off mortgage debt with money she earned on OnlyFans
The extraordinary success of The Sopranos may lead you to believe that all of the stars are all rolling in it and still reaping the rewards of the hit series.
The New Jersey-based crime-drama was even crowned the 'Greatest TV Show of All Time' by Rolling Stone in 2022, so it's easy to presume that the cast are all laughing their way to the bank.
But Drea de Matteo has admitted she had just $10 (£8) in her bank account last year when she was crippled with mounting mortgage debt, before she joined OnlyFans and turned her life around.
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The 52-year-old credits the adult subscription site with 'saving her life' during a period where she 'didn’t know which way was up' as her money troubles mounted.
In August 2023, de Matteo revealed she would be selling steamy content to fans for a $15-per-month subscription fee.
She leaned into her notoriety from The Sopranos while flogging her risqué snaps and rebranded the show's iconic name to suit her new business venture - leaving the words 'THE SOPORNOS' in her bio. It certainly gave me a chuckle.
But the actor's circumstances prior to launching her OnlyFans page were no laughing matter.
During an interview with the Daily Mail, de Matteo opened up about what encouraged her to take the leap and sign up to the adult site, especially after she previously insisted it was not up her street.
The Sons of Anarchy star explained she had taken forbearance (the temporary postponement of loan payments) to help her pay off her mortgage balance as her acting work dried up, but ultimately she could not afford to pay off the debts and was on the brink of losing her home - until she launched her adult platform.
De Matteo said: "It saved us. OnlyFans saved my life, 100 percent. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it really did save us.
"They put me into foreclosure and my house had flooded, so I was trying to sell the house quickly. I wanted to try and sell it before they took it."
"At the same time, I lost my mum, and my other mum, who has dementia, had run out of money for her caregiver. I didn’t know which way was up," she added.
Incredibly, de Matteo said she was out of the red just five minutes after uploading her first posts to OnlyFans.
She recalled: "I kept putting more pictures up. I was like,'holy s**t!' In five minutes, I was able to pay back compass real estate who kept the sale of my house.
"I got a lot of heat for doing it and it went f**king viral and people went nuts."
De Matteo revealed that she had initially planned to launch a podcast on OnlyFans with her partner, All Them Witches band-member Robby Staebler, 'that was controversial' where he 'rubbed her feet' to satisfy subscribers.
But that flew out of the window when she realised her money-making potential on the site and now she 'feels good' about her lucrative side hustle.
Addressing critics, the mum-of-two added: "Anybody that wants to condemn me and put me down, go for it. I just hope you never find yourself in the position I was in to take care of two little kids."
Olivia Burke