Drea de Matteo says OnlyFans became ‘political statement’ after financial struggles threatened her home
"Sopranos" star Drea de Matteo is reflecting on how joining OnlyFans became not only a financial lifeline when she was facing the loss of her home but also an act of defiance against Hollywood.
The 54-year-old actress has previously shared how launching an account on the subscription-based social media platform, which is primarily known for adult content, gave her the ability to financially save her home.
During an appearance Wednesday on Jamie Kennedy's "Hate to Break It to Ya" podcast, de Matteo explained that the platform gave her a way to make a living without relying on the entertainment industry after she became increasingly alienated from Hollywood over her political views and opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
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"In some ways, the OnlyFans page was almost like a political statement on my part in a way," she said.
"Oh yeah, get back at the system," Kennedy interjected.
"It was like, ‘F--- you,'" she said. "'I don’t need to work for your f---ing corporation.'"
De Matteo said the income she received from OnlyFans gave her the financial freedom to successfully fund her own entrepreneurial ventures, including her clothing line Ultrafree and her "Ultrafree" podcast.
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"You launched your OnlyFans to be free," Kennedy said.
"Yes, I did," she replied.
Despite her success on "The Sopranos," she said she was never as financially secure as people assumed. The actress told Kennedy she had never been particularly career-driven and would often return to acting only when she needed the income.
"I had enough to survive," she said. "I would always go back to work when I knew I needed to put aside a chunk of money for the mortgage."
"I was not — people think I'm made of f---ing money," de Matteo continued. "Everyone sees me coming, they're like, ‘Here comes that rich b---- from "The Sopranos."
"And it's like, no, I'm not at all. In fact, you know, I live a pretty f---ing normal life. I had to do that [OnlyFans] page to get a lien off my house after foreclosure."
She said her ability to work became further limited during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she declined roles she could not take without being vaccinated. She recalled that her agent eventually dropped her after determining there was little work the agency could secure for her if she remained unvaccinated.
The decline in acting income compounded her financial troubles. She said she took a mortgage forbearance during the pandemic, temporarily pausing payments on her home, but later began receiving foreclosure notices. Although she was ultimately able to resolve the foreclosure, she said she was left with a lien on the property.
In August 2023, de Matteo announced on Instagram that she had created an OnlyFans account, sharing a nude photo and saying she would be charging viewers $15 a month for exclusive content.
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While speaking with Kennedy, she recalled that she immediately received a financial windfall after launching her OnlyFans page.
"I put a picture up, and, within 75 minutes, the lien was paid," she said. "So, that was why I kept the OnlyFans."
"A picture. What type of picture?" Kennedy asked.
"A picture of me in a bikini," she replied.
Later in the conversation, when Kennedy asked about the amount of the lien, de Matteo told him, "That was $75,000."
"I needed more money than that, but that was just for the lien," she added.
"Did you pay your house off?" Kennedy asked, to which she replied, "No, no."
"So, were you making like a hundred G's a month?" he asked.
"Um, I think sometimes I might have," she said.
However, she said earning money from posting photos was not the original reason she created the account.
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"Honestly, we were going to use the Only Fans platform to start a podcast because I was afraid that I'd be censored too much to talk about stuff, you know, just out there in the world," she told Kennedy.
She explained that she initially set up the page as a "placeholder" for the podcast before her financial situation led her to use the platform differently.
The actress also pushed back on assumptions about the type of content she shares on the platform.
"I only got naked once," she said.
She explained that the photo she posted was tied to the launch of her podcast and intended as a protest against geoengineering.
"So, I painted my whole body in protest art and nobody would touch it because it said ‘stop geoengineering,’" she said
She explained that she believes many of her subscribers are drawn to her page because of her role as Adriana La Cerva, her character on "The Sopranos."
"The OnlyFans thing, I always say, it’s Adriana’s fan page because people love her," she said. "I mean, I’ve done a lot of other TV shows, but that’s the TV show people really love. So, you want to see more Adriana, go there, and that’s where I am."
During her appearance on the podcast, de Matteo also clarified previous remarks she had made about her teenage son's involvement with helping create content for her page.
In 2024, she made headlines after appearing on "Not Today, Pal," the podcast hosted by her former "Sopranos" co-stars Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
During the appearance, Iler told her that her then-13-year-old son had said he edited her OnlyFans photos, which she appeared to confirm.
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"Oh yeah. He’s like, ‘So, what do you want me to do with the bikini line here?’" she said at the time.
De Matteo shares two children with her ex, Shooter Jennings.
She told Kennedy that the exchange was taken out of context, explaining that her son had edited a single photo of her dressed as a superhero.
Later in the interview, she was more emphatic about what she said was her son's limited involvement, saying he "has nothing to do with the OnlyFans page."
"However, you know, as it was being launched and stuff, they were included in every f---ing step of what I did," she said of her children. "They knew what pictures were going up in the beginning."
De Matteo said both of her children were aware of what she planned to post and that she would ask them whether they were comfortable with it. However, the "Sons of Anarchy" actress maintained that her son did not regularly edit content for the account.
"He can edit anything," she said. "So, no, he's not editing OnlyFans content. He edited one f---ing picture of his mother as a superhero and that's it."
She said the attention surrounding the story ultimately took a toll on her son, who she said was teased by classmates over the reports.
The actress said the controversy also affected her relationship with her son as she tried to help him navigate the backlash.
"What's f---ed up about that entire thing is it caused such a strain, like even between he and I, because I have to be the person to coach him through all these, like, kind of adverse events, but I'm the f---ing reason for it in this particular instance," de Matteo said.
"So, it was really f---ing hard."