A model who gets compared to Marilyn Monroe says the sex symbol's Netflix biopic sparked huge interest in her OnlyFans - earning her thousands. Leylah Dobinson was already making money from the adult site before Blonde, starring Ana de Armas.
But she says the cash increased dramatically following the film's release earlier this year - and she now makes £6k a month. Leylah, 23, says the money has allowed her to travel the world and become a full-time model - a "dream come true".
She said: “The opportunities have been amazing. It’s such a large amount of money in such a small amount of time it’s overwhelming. I have freedom financially, my career opportunities have changed and I’m actually doing modelling full-time."
Leylah launched an OnlyFans several years ago. She says she was making money but, around the time Blonde was released, her page exploded.
The Netflix biopic stars de Armas, 34, and is a fictionalised take on the life of Monroe - real name Norma Jean. Leylah said: "I am still Leylah and don't want to be Marilyn - I don't want to be known just to be her lookalike.
"To be known as a fashion icon like Marilyn, I'd love to get to that level of appreciation for my beauty. It’s very empowering as a woman but sometimes I do find it hard because people have a lot of opinions - people say ‘you're cheap, why would you want to sell yourself online’.
“I don’t let get it to me, I'm a very strongminded person, I'm ambitious and know I'll make it one day.”
Leylah, from Sussex, says she says she’s earned £30k in the last eight months. Crediting the site with her newly found financial freedom, Leylah says she has been able to travel abroad for modelling shoots and focus on her career as a result.
However, she says she has received from cruel comments from trolls accusing her of being ‘cheap’. But, Leylah says she doesn’t let it affect her and she advocates for empowering women and encouraging people to love themselves.
Leylah said: “It was about two years ago when I started [OnlyFans]. Where it’s been focused so much on an explicit industry, you do get a lot of comments and opinions but it is what it is.
“If you’re earning that amount of money, you’ll get hate whatever industry you’re in – if you've got beauty, looks and body why not just own it. There are some not nice comments and it does get to you what people send you, but at the end of the day they’re the ones paying for your content.
“Doing the Marilyn thing has helped, it’s promoted me a lot on OnlyFans – I know it’s just going to get better the more I push myself and get recognised, the more I’ll get on in the industry. I want to empower women – it's okay to do OnlyFans and not care about what people think.
“It’s changed my life personally and if I never did this I don’t know where I’d be with modelling and everything – don't worry about what people think of you. It’s so pressuring on social media, people get lost and hate themselves but you should love yourself and go for it, if you can earn enough money through your looks then do it.
“I’ve been able to invest in myself, I have free time and I don’t have to have a normal job – it's also helped my modelling career, I’ve been able to go abroad and do shoots in Greece.
“I would love to do modelling full-time if I could and go into it on a professional level – it's my dream to be modelling full-time and be an icon.
“If you are getting hate it means you are doing something good in life – they envy you because they want to be you and have your confidence.”
