The actor and model said she has “always believed in evolving with the times”
Jaime Pressly has joined OnlyFans, following her friend Shannon Elizabeth as another well-known early 2000s celebrity to move onto the subscription platform.
OnlyFans has become a growing option for stars who want to earn money directly from fans, with some using it for adult content and others using it more like a paid fan club. American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth reportedly made $1.2 million in her first week on the platform.
Jessie Cave, who played Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter films, also joined OnlyFans recently. She has said she is making far more from it than I’m A Celeb stars get from appearing on the ITV reality show.
All of that makes Pressly’s move part of a wider celebrity trend. More famous faces are choosing platforms where they can control what they post and earn from their audience without going through a studio, network, or brand deal.
Pressly explained why she decided to join the platform in a statement to Variety, saying: “I’ve always believed in evolving with the times. This is another way for me to connect directly with my audience, on my own terms, with creativity and intention.”
The actor is best known for playing Joy Turner on My Name is Earl. She also appeared in Not Another Teen Movie and spent years working as a model before and during her acting career.
Jaime Pressly is starting an OnlyFansNBC
For Pressly, the move seems to be less about shock value and more about finding another way to speak directly to the people who have followed her career for years.
She already has a fanbase that knows her from TV, movies, modeling, and convention appearances. OnlyFans gives her a space where she can share content with that audience without relying on traditional social media rules.
It also lets her decide how much of herself she wants to show, what kind of material she wants to post, and how close she wants that fan interaction to feel.
She continued by saying she has “loved meeting fans at various Comic Cons,” adding: “The excitement of having those real face to face moments made me want to seek options like OnlyFans.”
That comment suggests the platform may act as an extension of the fan events she already enjoys. Instead of only meeting people at conventions, she can offer more regular access to those who want to keep up with her.
For celebrities who built their fame before social media became central to the industry, platforms like OnlyFans can offer a new kind of direct connection that did not exist during the peak of their early careers.
Pressly spoke about her love for ‘face to face moments’ with fansRich Fury/Getty Images for ABA
A lot of fans online noticed one interesting detail about Pressly’s announcement. Her plans appear closer to what OnlyFans was first created for, before the site became widely known for adult creators and explicit content.
OnlyFans launched in 2016 under founder Tim Stokely, who said the idea was to help creators make money from their audience directly instead of depending on advertisers or third-party platforms.
In that early version, the site was more like a rival to YouTube and Patreon than Pornhub. Stokely explained in a 2021 British GQ profile: “Our thinking was always ‘OK, what if you could build a platform where it’s exactly [the same] or very similar to existing on social media, but with the key difference being the payment button?'”
“So all of these creators, making this amazing content for free, had a very simple way of earning from that content.”
One person commenting on Pressly’s OnlyFans announcement summed up that point, saying: “If, in theory she’s not producing adult content, and is legitimately using OnlyFans as a platform to monetize interacting with fans, that was the intended purpose of OnlyFans.”
Shannon Elizabeth has taken a similar route with her own OnlyFans. She has reportedly avoided nude content and focused more on direct interaction with fans, which lines up with the platform’s original creator-first idea.
Elizabeth also spoke about why she joined the platform, saying her Hollywood career often involved “other people controlling the narrative and the outcome of her career.”
She said: “This new chapter is about changing that, showing off a more sexy side no one has seen, and being closer to my fans.”
“I’m choosing OnlyFans because it allows me to connect directly with my audience, create on my own terms, and just be free. I really do think this is the future.”