Lily Allen once sang about smiling through the chaos, and if anyone knows how to do that, it’s her. She’s no stranger to reinvention and the hullabaloo that follows a personal rebrand. She’s a pop star, an author, an actress, a podcaster, and for a brief moment, she was even a foot-fetish entrepreneur. She’s been candid about her saucy little side hustle, including sharing that she made more selling feet pics on OnlyFans than she ever has from streaming royalties.
Lily Allen was a breakout star of the mid-2000s with hits like Smile and LDN. She was the OG cheeky Britpop girl, known for brutally honest lyrics, unfiltered social commentary, and not being afraid to say the quiet part out loud. She went from being a chart-topper to an actress in 2:22 A Ghost Story, and then an author with her memoir My Thoughts Exactly. Basically, she’s tried every artistic medium that lets her talk about herself and make money at the same time, and she’s been pretty damn good at them all.
In July 2024, she decided to create an OnlyFans page as a playful side project. She never intended to share hardcore content—and stuck to that like a fly to one of those sticky paper traps. She leaned into creating foot-fetish content, all of it shot tastefully but intentionally provocative. According to Allen, her followers were surprisingly polite, requesting specific themes like “dirty soles” and “schoolgirl socks.” Says Allen, “Some liked me stepping in food, some liked stockings and court shoes for the more sophisticated customer.” She’s described running an OnlyFans page as being way less demanding than going on tour, but also more lucrative than the royalties she gets from Spotify. What she started as a harmless side hustle turned into a pretty consistent paycheck that was none too shabby.
Alas, all good things come to an end, and when Lily and her husband David Harbour split in February 2025 (yes, you know his name because of Stranger Things), she lost interest in running her OnlyFans page. Per Allen, it just stopped being fun once they split—and without the fun, what was the point? Her fans noticed she hadn’t been on social media as much either, because when you aren’t feeling the love in your offline life, being worshipped on social media just doesn’t hit the way it should. Even making bank off saucy feet pics can’t fill the emotional void left when a romantic relationship falls apart.
While Lily Allen obviously has a lot going on professionally outside of her OnlyFans page, her openly sharing why her heart just wasn’t in it anymore touches on a very real issue that pops up in the digital creator economy. Romantic strain causes more than a few OnlyFans creators to either shift their career goals or choose to remain unattached romantically. OnlyFans models frequently deal with jealousy, social stigma, and some very real emotional burnout in their relationships. Partners struggle with understanding the boundaries that creators have in place (think: “is that a fan paying for attention, or is my partner flirting sincerely?”). The social stigma is a consistent problem even when the content being created and shared is as vanilla as that gallon of backup ice cream in your freezer. Some creators have even reported breakups due to partners not being able to handle the public attention and sexualization they experience from fans. Even though Lily’s content was tame, the emotional labor and public scrutiny she faced are as real as it gets. Tolerating that kind of weight when you’ve lost the emotional support of a loving partner? That’s a big ask.
Does Allen regret quitting OnlyFans? We can’t say for sure, but given that she made more money there than she did from her streaming royalties, it’s a safe bet she at least misses that paycheck. The economics of fame are wild. Even pop icons who are internationally known can’t live off their Spotify streams, and OnlyFans continues to be the modern music-industry fallback plan.
As it has with so many things, the internet has fully changed what “creative hustle” means. Lily Allen’s honesty about her feelings in the wake of her marriage ending is like a breath of fresh air, because suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad that I had trouble showering after my last serious relationship ended. Regardless of the emotional toll, Lily Allen’s career pivots prove one thing: being shameless may just be the best business model out there.
