Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have almost definitely heard of OnlyFans.
OnlyFans is a platform that launched in 2016 for content creators to produce private content that people pay a subscription fee to access.
The platform grew in popularity during the 2020 lockdown when adult content creators started to post X-rated content behind the paywall.
Fast forward to the present day in 2023, 500,000 people sign up to the platform every single day, and OnlyFans pay their creators over $5bn every single year. But this payment comes at a cost, the effects it can have on a creator’s personal life.
A lot of people aren’t comfortable with their partner getting their bits out online and posting it.
Andrew Barton, a TikTok creator who has accumulated over 2m followers over his numerous accounts, also own his OnlyFans page. He is in the top 2.2% of creators on OF after starting in 2021, but he says that this can often impact his ability to find a relationship as he is currently single.
“When you’re single and you’re trying to find someone, when people find that out they tend to back off.
“It’s something that’s always been on my mind because I do want a relationship.
“I’m quite open and I’m bubbly, but then I drop this absolute bombshell, they’re just not sure if they’re comfortable with it. If you think about it, I’m sexting for money.
“You’ve got to really be able to trust someone to do what I do.
“It’s borderline cheating but it just depends on whether they think it’s an acceptable thing to do. That’s how I’m making money, it’s not just for my pleasure.”
In some circumstances creating adult content can prevent you from even having a chance of finding someone when out in public. Something like this happened to Andrew when he went out for a night out in Manchester for the first time.
“We went to Gay Village and there was this woman that came up to me and she said that men had approached her all night saying that they’d recognised me from TikTok but also OnlyFans.
“She worked at the club, and they were telling her what they wanted to do to me. Knowing that afterwards, that’s a bit uncomfortable.
The main presumption with OnlyFans is many users and purchasers of content are male. Recent studies would also support this as it’s been found that 87% of users identify as male, 10% as female and 3% preferred not to say.
“Obviously as a straight man, that’s something you must be comfortable with,” Andrew told us.
“You’ve got to be very secure with who you are, your sexuality. People think it’s just an easy thing but it’s actually pretty difficult.
“The girls that subscribe to me are just trying to talk to me or like meet up with me. Whereas the men are the ones that are the most active and give out the most money.
“It’s daunting because if you put everyone in a room, it’s a small hall of people and you’ve got your todger out. At my most, I’ve had over 1000 [subscribers], so when you put that into perspective it’s mad.”
We also spoke to another OnlyFans creator called Ollie Nibs, who runs another account that’s in the 2.3% on the platform about how it impacted his relationships. To his subscribers’ discontent, Ollie is off the market and has been with his girlfriend since the start of his adult content journey.
“It’s never been an issue, but it was a discussion we had to have.
“We were looking at the ceiling and she said, ‘Maybe you should start any OnlyFans.’ I was a bit shocked. She now goes on it regularly. She gets a free sub, it’s fine!
“There was an agreement in place that I’d never really post my junk on there. Then her birthday was coming up and I wanted to take her to Disneyland, and I whipped it out for one post.
“When I told her I did that, she wasn’t too happy, but she let me off because she was going to Disney! Ever since it’s been fine.”
Another assumption with OnlyFans is the money is… lucrative. Well, if Ollie is able to take his girlfriend to Disneyland with one snap of his genitals you wouldn’t be stupid to assume that.
Ollie said: “There is a cost-of-living crisis at the moment. I am a 21-year-old living on my own, in my own place.
“Before I was financially wrong, I needed to get myself back on my feet and it’s allowed me to do pretty well for myself.
“If it encourages other people to get involved, I’m more than happy to tell you what I get paid. Since the start of 2021 to December 2022, I have made 65 grand.”
I think that’s more than just one trip to Disney…
Whether you’re in a relationship or single, it seems that OnlyFans certainly plays a factor or has an impact on a creator’s relationship. But what happens if you’re in an open relationship? Kasstheblast is also in top 2% on OnlyFans as this is exactly her relationship status.
“She’s not in the industry. She and I were friends before we started dating so she knows what I do.
“We’re both young and we’re not in a rush to commit to anything. We like each other and we have a connection, but we don’t need to close off. We both like men and women so we’d both like the opportunity to have that.
“We’ve discussed it and if we’re lucky enough to find a guy that we both like, and he would be down to date us both, then we would be willing to have a thruple. That doesn’t always work out.
“It’s not the easiest thing to do now that I’ve been poly for a couple of years. It takes a lot of work. You have to be very confident; you have to be very good at communication.
“Dating is hard enough when you’re with one person! So, dating two is like argh!!!”