The “Sopranos” star revealed in an interview with the Daily Mail published Tuesday that she only had $10 in the bank and was about to lose her house before joining the 18+ subscription site last year.
“It saved us,” she shamelessly stated.
“OnlyFans saved my life, 100 percent. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it really did save us.”
“Sopranos” star Drea de Matteo paid off her mortgage debt with money she made on OnlyFans after joining in 2023 at the age of 51.Instagram/dreadematteo
Matteo, 52, said joining the platform was a last resort effort at saving her home after going through the forbearance process when her refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine made it difficult for her to book jobs in Hollywood.
“They put me into foreclosure and my house had flooded, so I was trying to sell the house quickly,” she recalled to the Mail.
“I wanted to try and sell it before they took it.”
“At the same time,” she continued, “I lost my mom, and my other mom, who has dementia, had run out of money for her caregiver. I didn’t know which way was up.”
“OnlyFans saved my life, 100 percent. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it really did save us,” she told the Daily Mail in an interview published Tuesday.Instagram/@dreadematteo
Matteo was struggling after she had a difficult time landing roles in Hollywood after she refused to get vaccinated against coronavirus.Instagram/@dreadematteo
She claimed she had $10 in her bank account when she joined and was about to lose her house.Instagram/@dreadematteo
Matteo said within five minutes of posting some risqué photos, she was able to get herself back on track financially.
“I was like, holy s–t. In five minutes, I was able to pay back compass real estate who kept the sale of my house,” she claimed.
Matteo admitted she did not want to partake in OnlyFans at all at first, but has since changed her tune about the site.
Matteo claimed that after just five minutes of being on OnlyFans, she made enough money to pay for her house.Instagram/@dreadematteo
“I got a lot of heat for doing it and it went f–king viral and people went nuts,” she vented.
“I mean, the original premise to open the OnlyFans was Robby [Staebler] and I were gonna do a podcast on there that was controversial.”
She added that originally she was going to have her boyfriend “rubbing [her] feet.”
“Because you have to add a little something for OnlyFans in there,” she explained.
“Anybody that wants to condemn me and put me down, go for it. I just hope you never find yourself in the position I was in to take care of two little kids.”
Matteo told Daily Mail that people “went nuts” when she joined OnlyFans.FilmMagic, Inc
“I just hope you never find yourself in the position I was in to take care of two little kids,” she stated.DREA DE MATTEO / Instagram
Matteo is the proud mother of a 16-year-old daughter, Alabama Gypsyrose, and a 12-year-old son, Waylon. She shares both with her musician ex, Shooter Jennings.
The “Sons of Anarchy” actress spoke about how OnlyFans provided her with a balanced life last September.
“I figured, ‘OK, so everybody’s in their underwear and being sexy on Instagram and I don’t do that, but I can do that and get paid for it,’ … I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner,” she candidly told Fox Digital.
“My kids have always been my No. 1 focus. Had I known that I could work out of my closet my whole life, I never would have [believed].”
Matteo is the proud mom of two kids.Getty Images
The “Joey” actress further shared, “I know that might sound crazy and might sound somewhat lazy, but I am a very big supporter of stay-at-home moms and women who really love to raise their children. I balanced it all, and I’ve done it all.”
Matteo has been honest about her finances for years, having told Page Six in 2021 that she made just $500 per episode on “The Sopranos” when it first debuted.
“Then I made a couple of thousand and then probably by the end is when I started making series quotes but that money came and went immediately,” she noted.
She shares her kids with her ex, Shooter Jennings.Getty ImagesWhat do you think? Post a comment.
“The Sopranos” ran from 1999 to 2007 and the cast does not make residuals from it, according to Matteo.
In addition to the hit HBO series and “Friends” spinoff, “Joey,” Matteo played Angie Bolen on “Desperate Housewives,” Tess Nazario on “Shades of Blue” and Wendy Case on “Sons of Anarchy.”
The actress isn’t the only star that has turned to OnlyFans, as Disney alum Bella Thorne, Coco Austin, Iggy Azalea, Denise Richards and more have all made a pretty penny on the site.