Actress Drea de Matteo (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
"The Sopranos" star Drea de Matteo credits her OnlyFans platform for her ability to financially save her home.
In an interview with FOX Business, de Matteo explained that the most surprising thing to her about the internet content subscription service is how quickly she was able to make money.
"I was surprised that I was able to save my home as quickly as I did," the actress explained. "So, my advice to all the young ladies out there, not the young ones — I want the young ones to do other things first. The old ones. All the old ladies out there, you know, bet on yourself, man."
According to the Daily Mail, de Matteo was in forbearance to help with mortgage repayments, but couldn't afford what she owed.
Drea joined OnlyFans in August. She announced the news on her Instagram at the time with a nude photo and is charging $15 per month for her page.
"I wasn't going to sit around and wait for my manager or for somebody to try and land me a job that I needed to get in order to take care of what needed to be taken care of. I was losing my home," she said. "So, that surprised me — now that I'm not very popular on social media these days."
When de Matteo launched her platform, she told FOX Business she wasn't listening to the negative comments.
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"I know some people have said some nasty things about me having joined OnlyFans. But, you know, the way we see it in this house is mommy's a warrior, not accepting defeat," she said in September.
Added de Matteo, "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."
The Queens, New York-born star got her big break on HBO’s "The Sopranos" in 1999, starring as Adriana, Christopher Moltisanti’s (Michael Imperioli) girlfriend, the protégé of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini).
Her character was killed off in the show's fifth season in one of the most well-received episodes of the series, "Long Term Parking," after it was discovered she worked with the FBI.
De Matteo's work on the episode earned her an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series in 2004. De Matteo's character also appeared in two additional episodes in the following season, in dream-like scenarios.
From there, the actress appeared on such shows as "Desperate Housewives" and "Sons of Anarchy" and in films including "New York, I Love You" and "Don’t Sleep."
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Along with OnlyFans, de Matteo has launched a streetwear brand that helps "promote free speech." She told Fox News Digital her brand, Ultrafree, was created after a series of events over the last three years.
"Let's start with a lockdown, and then let's start with mandates — not being able to work," she said. "Heroes becoming zeros. I mean, you name it, every ideology that sort of got pushed forward.
"It seems like that's been hijacked to a degree, like the whole idea of democracy. And I think a lot of the ideologies that sort of got pushed forward were never meant to free anybody."
De Matteo said the idea for her brand wasn't inspired by politics, but the idea was to unite people despite their political beliefs.
"This is about you and me as people, as human beings," she said. "I feel like politics should take a back seat at this point, and everybody needs to sort of come together and recognize there's a war on the truth and on humanity and on what really unites us
"There are more things that unite us than divide us."
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