Bella Thorne champions sex workers and apologises in spectacular OnlyFans U-turn

Bella Thorne has championed sex workers during a grovelling apology after her OnlyFans success sparked a furious backlash.

The 22-year-old former Disney star broke OnlyFans records this month when she launched her page, charging fans $200 (£150) for three lingerie clad images and raking in an alleged $1 million (£750,000) in one day as a result.

Bella’s gain was the sex worker community’s loss, however, as fellow OnlyFans stars – who share fully nude and sexually explicit content on their page – were stiffed by a crackdown in the websites rules.

Bosses behind the brand appeared to make changes to prevent members charging more than $50 (£38) for photos – while payment waiting dates were increased from 7 to 30 days.

Bella found herself under fire from other members of the community who pointed the finger of blame at her – accusing the star of lying to fans over the nature of the photos she was charging fans for, and shorting the funds OnlyFans had to distribute across its network in the process.

Now Bella – who has been clear from the off that her foray into the world of sexually explicit content has been research for a film role – has apologised for the financial issues she may have caused her fellow OnlyFans stars.

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, the American star wrote: “PT1 Remove the stigma behind sex, sex work, and the negativity that surrounds the word SEX itself by bringing a mainstream face to it that’s what I was trying to do, to help bring more faces to the site to create more revenue for content creators on the site.

“I wanted to bring attention to the site, the more people on the site the more likely of a chance to normalize the stigmas, And in trying to do this I hurt you.

“I have risked my career a few times to remove the stigma behind sex work, porn, and the natural hatred people spew behind anything sex related.

“I wrote and directed a porn against the high brows of my peers and managers because I WANTED to help with the stigma behind sex.”

She continued: “I am a mainstream face and when you have a voice, a platform, you try to use you in helping others and advocate for something bigger than yourself.

“Again in this process I hurt you and for that I’m truly sorry.”

She went on to state: “Ps. I’m meeting with only fans about the new restrictions to find out why!!! This is f***ed up and I’m sorry comment any ideas or concerns you want brought up to OF!! and send me your links and a pic so I can promote you guys.”

Bella’s comments came after other OnlyFans users theorised that her success had prompted a rapid change in rules from OnlyFans bosses.

A spokesperson for the website rubbished these claims, however, telling TMZ on Friday: “Transaction limits are set to help prevent overspending and to allow our users to continue to use the site safely.

“We value all of the feedback received since this change was implemented and we will continue to review these limits.”

They added: “Our objective remains to provide the best platform possible for the OnlyFans community. We can confirm that any changes to transaction limits are not based on any one user.”

Meanwhile, Bella has previously explained that she has experimented with OnlyFans as a way of researching a role in a new film to be directed by Sean Baker.

However, Sean himself threw Bella under the bus on Friday when he took to Twitter to refute the actress’s claims they were working together.

He wrote: “I would like to make it clear that the news of me making a film (documentary or fiction narrative) about Onlyfans and using Bella Thorne as research is false.

“I’m NOT attached to this project. I’m actually in development on two features that I’ve put years of research and love in to and neither of these films have anything to do with Ms Thorne or Onlyfans.

The 49-year-old did, at least, concede he had discussed possible film plans for the future with Bella.

He explained: “Earlier this month I had a conversation with Ms Thorne and discussed a possible collaboration in the far future that would focus on her life and the circumstances leading to her joining Onlyfans.

“On that call, I advised her team to consult with sex workers and address the way she went about this as to NOT hurt the sex work industry. This has been the extent of my involvement.”

He added: “I am an ally and have literally devoted my career to tell stories that remove stigma and normalise lifestyles that are under attack.

“I would never do anything that could possibly hurt the community. So please know that this news is not correct. Thank you.”