A woman who grew up on a council estate and could only afford to drink Coca-Cola as a Christmas luxury now lives in a multi-million pound home - after raking in £300,000 a month as an OnlyFans model.
Sophie Dee, 38, has just landed herself on the first-ever Forbes Top 50 content creator list as one of the richest OnlyFans creators in the world and boasts over 12 million followers on social media. The model owns a total of three luxury properties, drives a £120,000 Porsche, and is constantly jetting off around the world on pricey holidays - but her lifestyle these days is a stark contrast to the way she grew up in South Wales.
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She said: "We pretty much survived on welfare throughout my childhood. My family lived on a rundown council estate. We never had name brand products in the house – even a bottle of Coca-Cola was a treat reserved for Christmas – and we had to put coins into the back of the TV when we wanted to watch it.
"I went to school in my brother's hand-me-downs and everyone knew that we were poor. I'm from a tiny village – it's about a mile long – and everyone knows everyone's business.
"Now I want for nothing and it feels amazing to be on the Forbes list of top content creators because it's a validation of sex work. Sex work is work, maybe this will finally make people understand that."
After kickstarting her career, Sophie moved from Wales to the US, where she currently lives in Las Vegas with her boyfriend Tyler, 36, and their nine rescue pets - including six cats and three dogs.
And the model admitted that part of the reason she left her hometown was because of the vile comments people would make about her job, as she said people would "call her names" and "stare" at her in the street.
She added: "The whole family – my dad, step-mum and brother – hated it when I started out. No father wants this for his daughter but dad has since come around to the idea and understands that this is a real job.
"Before I left the UK, people in our village would stare and call me names, saying I was a s**g. It was horrible but it actually helped better prepare me today for the challenges of becoming a public figure on social media – people can be really demeaning online."
Sophie no longer wants for anything thanks to her hefty paycheque but has insisted she doesn't like to splash out on expensive clothes just for the sake of it - as she'd rather wear second-hand designer items than buy them new.
"You're more likely to see me sporting a look from Shein than Prada," she explained, " I don't like spending full price for luxury fashion goods, I think it's something that has stuck with me since childhood. When I do buy them, it's typically second-hand."
The model has also admitted that starting her OnlyFans career wasn't plain sailing, as she struggled with her income when she was starting out and even had one month where she had to get by with just $200 (£184).
And even though she now has enough cash to retire before she turns 40, Sophie says her upbringing has made her so conscious about her finances that she intends to keep working until she's "old and grey".
She said: "When I first started out, my monthly earnings were all over the place. One month, I'd make $600, then $1,000 and once I scraped by just $200.
"I'm careful with my cash too, putting a lot of money in stocks, bonds, my pension, crypto and in business ventures. I recently launched a website that handles promo for models, called Shoutout Express – it became so big that we are launching a new version, Gig Social, and it has cost me $300,000 to build.
"When you grow up poor, there's a feeling that sticks with you. I have enough money to retire several times over but I never stop stressing about it, and I'll never stop trying to make more. I'm pretty sure I'll be working until I'm old and grey."
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