Australian mum turns OnlyFans earnings into $1.5 million, police complaints and a painful family moment
A Perth mother describes how financial pressures, a subscriber threat, and police concerns shaped her decision to pursue adult content and how her kids learned the truth.
Lucy Banks, 34, a Perth mother, says she turned to creating explicit content on OnlyFans in 2019 after a divorce left her juggling finances and parenting. Over four years, she estimates she earned about $1.5 million, bought four houses within 15 months, and funded private schooling and medical care for her two children. Banks stopped producing explicit content about two years ago and has since launched a marketing agency for other adult-creators, aiming to harness the platform’s potential while stepping away from the camera herself.
Before turning to the platform, Banks spent years in corporate banking, starting in her teens. She describes a conservative upbringing and a late-2020s pivot from long hours at the bank to a business model that enabled her to be present for her children. The decision to try OnlyFans followed a conversation with a friend who had already joined the site, and Banks says the aim was straightforward: financial security that would give them a better life without sacrificing time with her kids.
The period was not without peril. A subscriber threatened to contact Banks’s children’s school, telling her, "I hope you're prepared to face all the school mums tomorrow because everyone's going to know." The brash message underscored the social stigma that can accompany such a career. Banks said she did not understand why the kids needed to be exposed to the situation, noting they were sheltered from her work at the time. The moment was compounded by a separate conversation with a police officer about something unrelated, who told her there had been five complaints to the Department of Child Protection about her. Banks said the officer was supportive and reassured her she was not under suspicion, but the dialogue left an emotional mark.
Banks emphasizes that the decision to keep her children shielded for as long as possible was driven by a desire to protect them from stigma while still prioritizing their education and health. She acknowledges the scrutiny and judgment that accompanied her choice but maintains that her actions were aimed at stability at a difficult time in her family’s life. "A lot of people have to do this because they don’t have a choice," she said, reflecting on the balance between parental responsibility and personal autonomy.
Financially, the venture yielded rapid results. Banks says she used the earnings to finance private schooling for her two children and secure access to medical specialists when needed. She notes that the wealth came with a price—the loss of privacy and the social cost of public opinion—yet she stands by the decision, arguing that the arrangement provided time and resources that would have been hard to achieve through a traditional 60-hour work week in corporate banking.
Two years after stepping away from explicit content, Banks pivoted to entrepreneurship. She identified a market gap among content creators who want to build brands beyond single platforms and formed a marketing agency specifically for adult creators. She argues that the landscape around adult content has evolved and that people should be free to pursue work that empowers them, provided safety and consent are prioritized.
Banks stresses that her experience is not a blueprint for everyone. She says not everyone is comfortable with showing themselves online, and that’s okay. But she adds that for some, the industry offers a legitimate means to achieve financial security and more flexible family time. She fears the broader conversation often misses the nuance of individual circumstances and the complex choices parents may make when they feel backed into a corner by economic pressures.
In reflecting on the journey, Banks says she would not change the core decision to pursue a path that allowed her to care for her children and avoid daycare or other high-cost caregiving options. She concedes that the path brought heavy scrutiny and personal cost but maintains that it yielded a level of financial independence that might not have been possible otherwise. As she continues to run her agency and support fellow creators navigating the platform, Banks hopes to shift the narrative toward safety, legitimacy, and personal agency in a sphere that remains controversial for many.