Sopranos star Drea de Matteo, 54, reveals unlikely reason for OnlyFans career

The world knows Drea de Matteo as Adriana la Cerva from The Sopranos, but almost 20 years after the show’s end, the actress has turned to OnlyFans.

de Matteo, 54, revealed to Today Extra that she launched an OnlyFans career, a subscription service known for adult content, to save her house from foreclosure after she accidentally made US$75,000 in 75 minutes.

Speaking to hosts David Campbell and Renee Bargh, de Matteo said she was never interested in acting after The Sopranos.

“I felt if I needed to pay my mortgage I would. I wasn’t about having a career, I was just about making sure I had enough money,” she said.

She explained that during Covid when vaccines were mandated and she did not get vaccinated she found her opportunity for jobs “dead in the water”.

“There was nothing I could do to get my normal little pile of money to take care of myself and my family for a little while. So we were losing our house,” she explained.

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“I had to make a move and I had to make it fast.”

de Matteo said her OnlyFans gig started out as a joke where she originally planned to launch a censorship-free podcast on the platform.

She put a picture of herself up on the platform as a placeholder until the podcast was ready and then things really took off.

“Within 75 minutes we made $75,000 to pay off the house.”

de Matteo remembered staring at the app wondering if all the numbers were correct when her boyfriend chimed in and suggested she should upload another photo.

The actress said while many people are under the assumption she is wealthy because of her involvement in The Sopranos, she actually lives a very normal life.

She credits the success of her page to the popularity of the character Adriana la Cerva.

de Matteo she didn’t realise her own personal connection to the Soprano’s storyline until later in life when she learned both her grandfathers were in the Mafia.

“I didn’t know that because I was raised in the theatre with my mum. But my dad escaped that life and I didn’t really understand how much he could’ve been in that life had my mum not had given him an ultimatum,” she said.