It cannot be denied that since 2020, the popularity of OnlyFans has surged not only among amateurs, but celebrities as well. More and more, people that used to dominate the pop culture scene require another source of revenue, and OnlyFans definitely fits that bill.
The latest celebrity considering OnlyFans as a career move as a means of reconciling finances? Tori Spelling.
Why are so many celebrities turning to the platform in order to make ends meet? Don’t they have established fame that they should be able to rely on? Why do they need subscribers to foot their bills?
Let’s take a closer look at Tori Spelling. Best known for her work on Beverly Hills, 90210 the actress also starred in a number of other films, as well as the hit reality TV series Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. She was a rising star in the 90’s and early 00’s, so why is she in a financial pickle?
The list of reasons is…not short. Inheritance dispute with her mother, bad habits around spending, lawsuits, unpaid debts, failed business ventures, education expenses for her children, medical bills, the list goes on and on. The point being, she needs to make a buck, and she needs to do so fairly quickly.
Enter OnlyFans. A platform that is not only known for its adult-only content, but also for creating a direct line from celebrities who have joined, to fans who will pay extra money for the privilege of interacting with them.
OnlyFans was created as a place where content creators could safely charge their followers for the privilege of viewing their more exclusive content. Plus, OnlyFans allows for multiple revenue streams from a single platform in the form of paid subscriptions, custom content, paid DMs, wish lists, merch drops, live streams, and more.
While it has definitely become THE go-to platform for adults 18+, it has also drawn in celebrities who are seeking to have more control over their financial future than they currently have while waiting for their agent to book the next gig. And because OnlyFans is self-directed, there’s no one else to take a cut of the profits after OnlyFans takes their portion.
Tori Spelling is far from the first celebrity to consider OnlyFans as a viable option. Should she choose to join, she’d be joining the ranks of celebrities such as Iggy Azalea, Carmen Electra, Amber Rose, Rubi Rose, Lottie Moss, and many more. Truth be told, these celebs have been earning decent paychecks off the platform, and have also given OnlyFans a sense of legitimacy that it previously didn’t have prior to the great celebrity migration.
Why are celebrities drawn to OnlyFans? Well, for the same reasons as anyone else. The platform puts the earning power back into the hands of the creator. They get to choose when they post, what they post, and whether or not they’ll engage 1:1 with their fanbase. The shiny world of Hollywood may seem like it's full of power players, and it is! However, for those doing the actual work of making the content that consumers love, they’re at the mercy of recording studios, agents, contracts, etc. That’s a lot of schmoozing with a lot of gatekeepers who add no value to the creative process.
With OnlyFans? There’s none of that. The decisions are all theirs to make. There’s no waiting for a middleman to tell you whether or not you’ll be making money this year.
Throw in the added bonus of being protected by only being visible to your paid subscribers, and one can see how celebrities— many of whom are accustomed to dodging paparazzi— can find the platform to be an appealing means of generating revenue.
Does being a content creator on OnlyFans have drawbacks? Yes. Even for celebrities. Despite the fact that it’s not just good porn anymore, OnlyFans is inextricably linked with adult-only content. As soon as your name gets said in the same sentence as “OnlyFans,” the “she’s doing porn” rumors will proliferate (and the gross AI deepfakes may not be far behind).
OnlyFans also offers consumers the illusion of intimacy with their favorite content creators. That seems fine and dandy when you’re the one paying for the interaction, but what happens when people at large forget that they’re paying for the privilege of interacting with a celebrity? It’s a slippery mental slope from “I’m paying you for a personalized video” to “I’m paying for on-demand access to you.” Why do some fans conflate content with a relationship? Maybe it’s the subscription-based nature of the platform. You don’t often hear about this kind of behavior from people who got a one-off celebrity Cameo for their birthday.
In short, whether or not Tori Spelling chooses to join the ranks of her fellow celebrities on OnlyFans, that she is considering such a move at all points toward the continued trend of celebrities taking fuller control of their financial future.
Will this trend of celebrities joining subscription-based streaming platforms continue? We say, look to the stars.
