YouTube star Piper Rockelle has hit back at criticism after joining OnlyFans at the age of 18.
Rockelle, who rose to fame as a child star on the video sharing platform, shocked followers last week when she dropped a link to her OnlyFans account just months after her 18th birthday.
Although not exclusively used for x-rated content, the platform is of course famous for NSFW photos and videos – leading to the former 'kidfluencer' facing a wave of backlash from people who've watched her essentially grow up on YouTube and TikTok.
"Extremely disturbing folk that watch child YouTubers and spend money on OFs subs as soon as they turn legal age," one person said of the announcement, while another added: "You’re a victim of predatory capitalism."
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However Rockelle doesn't appear to be fazed by the backlash, with the content creator later celebrating breaking records by earning an eye-watering $2.9 million (£2.1 million) in her first day on the platform.
Rockelle also claimed to have earned $1 million (£740k) within an hour, which would beat Lil Tay's record after the latter claimed to have made '$1 million in three hours' after creating her account the day she turned 18.
Rockelle has now doubled down on her decision in a new interview with Rolling Stone, saying her followers appeared to be having a harder time letting her childhood go than she did.
"If you don’t accept me, you don’t have to be here," she said. "I’m not going to be a kid forever."
Rockelle continued: "The people who have taken time to bash me on the internet and say that I’ve been exploited my whole entire life and say that I did this and this and this and this, they can’t turn around and become an OnlyFans model.
"They can’t do that because they’ve preached their whole entire lives about not exploiting yourself and not showing off your body. It’s just proving everybody wrong."
She went on to brush off claims that she was influencing other young girls to aspire to join OnlyFans, saying: "I can’t influence anyone to do anything.
"If they want to be like me, then be like me.
"That’s their choice. I try to just preach what makes me feel better."
So it would appear that Rockelle is persevering with her chosen career choice for now, after previously claiming she was going to quit the site and go to college.
This isn't the first time Rockelle has faced controversy. The YouTuber and her mother were previously the subject of 2022 Netflix documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing.
The documentary focused on Rockelle's mother, Tiffany Smith, who is accused of emotionally, physically and sexually abusing several minors who'd been involved in her daughter's content group, 'The Squad'.
Smith has always denied the allegations against her, with a lawsuit filed by 11 members of the group later settled in October 2024.
Brenna Cooper