‘Sopranos’ Star Drea de Matteo Says Creating “OnlyFans” Account Saved Her Life

‘The Sopranos‘ is widely considered to be the best television series of all time. Even to this day, people are still discovering the show and falling in love with it.

And if you’re one of those people, you probably know actress Drea de Matteo. She played the lovable Adriana on the hit series and received multiple nominations for her performance. She’s one of the more beloved characters from the show, but you might be surprised to learn she wasn’t paid all that much, despite being a series regular.

When the series first debuted, she made just $500 per episode. Then she made a couple thousand per episode, and finally, in the last couple seasons, she was making a good chunk of change, but it didn’t last long.

“That money came and went,” she said during an interview with PageSix back in 2021. After Sopranos came to an end, Drea worked here and there in Hollywood, but she never found huge success again. And then once the pandemic came and she refused to get vaccinated, she lost nearly 100% of her work in Hollywood.

They put me into foreclosure and my house had flooded, so I was trying to sell the house quickly. I wanted to try and sell it before they took it. At the same time. 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.

The 52-year-old actress had just $10 in her checking account. She was desperate, so she decided to make an OnlyFans account, and boy, was that the best decision she’s ever made.

She claims within five minutes of posting some photos on there and sharing them with her followers, she made enough money to pay off her mortgage debt.

I got a lot of heat for doing it and it went f–king viral and people went nuts. 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.

As for the haters? She doesn’t give a f**k.

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.

Do yo’ thang, gurl!