'Sopranos' star Drea de Matteo joins OnlyFans after being labeled 'savage': 'Not accepting defeat'
The 51-year-old joined the subscription site in August
"Sopranos" star Drea de Matteo doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her decision to join OnlyFans.
"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," de Matteo told Fox News Digital.
The 51-year-old joined the subscription service, known for its uncensored content, last month. She announced the news on her Instagram with a nude photo and is charging $15 a month for her page.
"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," De Matteo added.
"I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner," Drea de Matteo told Fox News Digital about joining OnlyFans. (Arnaldo Magnani /Christopher Polk/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
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"Things have changed in the last three years. My kids have always been my No. 1 focus. Had I known that I could work out of my closet my whole life, I never would have [believed]. … I know that might sound crazy and might sound somewhat lazy, but I am a very big supporter of stay-at-home moms and women who really love to raise their children. I balanced it all, and I've done it all.
"But I’m 51. I didn't know this was going to have to be a change of life, you know, all of a sudden that during a time I'm supposed to be relaxing a little bit, that I would have to switch careers and figure new things out because my own industry thinks I'm, you know, a savage."
Matteo was referring to reaction within the industry to her position on COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which she refused to comply with and routinely speaks out against on X, formerly Twitter.
"I guess you could say I was a bad girl because I did not follow the rules a couple of years ago. So, I don't want to be at the mercy of mandates or strike or anything like that ever again," de Matteo said.
Drea de Matteo says her career has been impacted by her refusal to comply with Hollywood's vaccine mandates. (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
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The actress said her agent dropped her, and she "almost lost our home over it.""People find that hard to believe that I was never really paid very much money for any of the jobs I've done," de Matteo said. "People think I'm f---ing made of gold, and I'm not. I’ve worked job to job. And I've turned down tons of jobs in the past just to be with my children because their dad's on the road, and he's not around as much."
I guess you could say I was a bad girl because I did not follow the rules a couple of years ago. So, I don't want to be at the mercy of mandates or strike or anything like that ever again.
But once she put up a more explicit photo, she embraced the new opportunity, ignoring the haters along the way.
"I just don't care. I don't. I'd rather save my family than save face," she said.
"Listen for the people who think it's something crazy. It's not what you think it is. And for the people who think it's something crazy, it's exactly what you want it to be."
The "Sons of Anarchy" star says her boyfriend, Robby Staebler of the band All Them Witches and her children from her relationship with Shooter Jennings, are supportive of her work on the site.
"My kids were the ones that were like, ‘Do it.’ She’ll [de Matteo’s daughter] edit the pictures, too, because they want certain things that we haven't been able to do. I used to have a lot of money. And then, all of a sudden, I went from being allowed to work to never being allowed to work again. I was never the kind of actor that took jobs just to stay in the business. I literally took jobs to feed my family.
So, when people make nasty comments about why I would have done that, my response is, 'Damn straight, I hope you're never in the f---ing position I'm in. I take care of an entire family and a lot of other people who depend on me."She also revealed her kids have read the comments about her decision to join OnlyFans, which worried her at first.
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"I know that my daughter read [an article] and read some of the hater comments. I sat down, and I go, ‘You know, mommy is not the things that they're trying to say.’ She's like, ‘We don’t even have to have this conversation.’ She schooled me.
"But my kids are old enough now to read, and everything I do, I do for them. Everything I've given up, I've given up for them. I mean, any sacrifice I made was for them. So, they're going to go ahead and read this stuff and have a different image of me because of what people are saying because God knows how suggestive this society has become."
I just don't care. I don't. I'd rather save my family than save face.
De Matteo said she personally avoids reading anything posted about her.
"I don’t read comments. I never have," she said. "I would say that my last few relationships with men I've been with have even deteriorated because they read every comment on my socials, their own socials, whatever, and it destroys people."I know what they’re saying is not true," she continued. "Like, it could never get under my f---ing skin because I stood by something I believed in. I know the kind of actor I’ve been my whole life. I know that I'm good at what I do. I do love what I do. But it's not the only interest in my life anymore."
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Drea de Matteo says reading comments "destroys people," and she ignores the negativity that came with her decision to join OnlyFans. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
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The Queens, New York-born star got her big break on HBO’s "The Sopranos" in 1999, starring as Adriana, Christopher Moltisanti’s girlfriend, played by Michael Imeprioli, the protégé of James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano.
Adriana was at first a typical gangster's girlfriend, engaged in a toxic relationship with Christopher, which included drug use and physical abuse at the hands of Christopher. She eventually became involved in nightclub management, but everything went downhill for her after she was forced into becoming an FBI informant on the Soprano crime family and Christopher.
Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti and Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cerva in an image from "The Sopranos." (HBO/Getty Images)
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.
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But de Matteo is shifting her focus as her OnlyFans takes off and she pursues other interests.
Drea de Matteo won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for "The Sopranos" in 2004. (M. Caulfield/WireImage)
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One of those interests is in a collaboration with Nocking Point Wines, the Gangster Goddess Sauvignon Blanc, named after de Matteo’s podcast with partner Chris Kushner.
And her OnlyFans work is funding personal projects, like a T-shirt printing enterprise with Staebler.
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"It's called Ultra, and it's all about being ultra happy, ultra free, ultra psychedelic, anything that you can be all of."
De Matteo also has her eye on a podcast or talk show-style work on her OnlyFans, in addition to her racier content.
"The original intent was my boyfriend and I were going to do a show on there because we knew we wouldn't be censored. And it was, you know, talking about worldly affairs with a funny spin on it and all the insanity that's been looming for the last three years," she said
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