A former OnlyFans star has shared the stomach-dropping moment her young son discovered her controversial career.
Lucy Banks, 34, began creating explicit OnlyFans content in 2019, after she was newly divorced and seeking financial stability.
She had a background in banking, but she wanted to find work where she wouldn’t have to send her children to daycare every day.
Speaking to Andrew Bucklow on news.com.au’s podcast “From The Newsroom,” Banks explained what prompted her to start creating X-rated content.
“They were in daycare a lot. I had a moment one evening when one of my sons said to me, They’re like, ‘Do we have to go to daycare tomorrow?’” she said.
“It just broke me.”
Banks explained that she made sure her face was hidden when she initially started creating explicit content, but as her following grew, so did her confidence.
“I became more and more comfortable, my content became more and more explicit, but it was at a pace that I was comfortable to do it,” she said.
“I was like, look, I know I can charge more if I make this content, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
At the height of her OnlyFans career, she was working 12-hour days, but even then, she was still able to balance work and time with her family.
“I’m happy to work hard. I just have to do it around the kids because that’s my priority,” she said.
She was also earning a lot of money, making between $1 million and $1.5 million over four years.
The downside to OnlyFans was that, as much as Banks tried to shield her children from it, her eldest son, who was around 11 at the time, found out.
“Somebody told him. I was so careful to make sure that they were shielded from everything,” she said.
“It wasn’t fair that somebody else told him, but he was so cool about it. I had a conversation with him and he’s like, ‘it’s fine’. People do worse things for money,” she said.
“Then he started trying to talk to me about, he’s like, ‘Okay, so how, how much do you charge for your subscribers? Because if we increase your subscription price …’. I was like, ‘Mate, no, I’m not having this conversation with you. ’”
Banks eventually ended up quitting OnlyFans because it got to a point where she just wasn’t enjoying it anymore.
“I was at a new stage of my life and I just found myself resenting it and dreading making content,” she explained.
“I’m recognising that this isn’t fun for me anymore, so it’s time to stop.”
The 34-year-old said it was a tough decision because essentially she was in “golden handcuffs” as she had become accustomed to making a lot of money.
“I’ve got property and mortgages that I have to keep servicing. So it was a hard decision, but it was the right one to make. And, honestly, I haven’t regretted it,” she said.
Banks pivoted, though, identifying a gap in the market and creating Million Billion Media, a marketing agency for OnlyFans creators.
“I never had, you know, a million followers on Instagram or anything like that, but at that time, I was the only OnlyFans creator that was leveraging the media and the news to get my name out there,” she said.
The young mum wanted to help other OnlyFans creators do the same and build their brands.
“OnlyFans creators are quite similar to athletes really. It’s like you’ve got this window where you’ve got a lot of eyes on you and you’re making a lot of money,” Banks said.
“How are we going to set you up so that four or five years can help you for the next 10 to 20 years and build on that attention that you’ve got.”
