A former Disney star has opened up about his “extreme choice” to leave his acting career as he revealed he’s now a sex worker.
Dan Benson became a well-known face on TV when he starred as the dorky Zeke Beakerman on Wizards of Waverly Place.
But now the retired actor has found fame in another way — with his “very naked” OnlyFans account.
The 35-year-old revealed he had been “struggling to put food on the table” both during and after his acting job on the hit Disney show.
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Speaking with fellow former Disney Star Christy Carlson Romano on her Vulnerable podcast, he said: “When you get that insane high of being on a Disney show and riding this massive wave of what feels like success and being in front of four million people every single week and then kind of have nothing after that happen.
“You know you do a couple things but for me, I struggled to create any sort of acting career after Wizards of Waverly Place and that was a dark time, those were dark years.”
But when Dan was “catfished” by someone on Snapchat and had his nudes leaked online, he saw it as an “amazing opportunity” to embark on a new career.
It started with him posting shirtless pictures to his Patreon but after sharing nudes to Twitter and racking up over 130,000 followers in just four days, he decided to join OnlyFans.
He revealed that while he’s straight and is open about his sexuality to his followers, most of his explicit content is targeted towards gay men.
“I’m not sexually attracted to men but I just don’t mind creating content for them and in fact, I have fun creating content and I get enjoyment out of creating content specifically for gay men,” he said.
He described his followers as “vulgar as hell”, adding: “They are as vulgar as you would expect.”
Recalling some of the most bizarre things he’s been asked to do, he said: “Lots of people want me to pee on them which is not even that crazy, but a lot of people just want to know how my socks smell.
“I created a foot-specific OnlyFans because I didn’t realise the foot fetish thing is massive.”
He added: “Some guys want their balls stepped on and told they’re a good boy.”
But despite the strange requests, he said the new career has helped him to realise there are some niches he’s into himself.
“I was not into BDSM at all before I started OnlyFans and now I’m kind of into it,” he said.
It’s also come with some big financial rewards, with Dan telling how he “makes all the money” because he doesn’t have to pay agent or production fees and has earned a “life-changing” sum.
Now he considers himself a full-time sex worker and wants that label to be recognised as “empowering”.
He said: “Sex workers are great and they’re essential and they’re fantastic so the fact that I’m now having the opportunity to be lumped in that group I think is awesome.”
The former actor revealed while his parents are “incredibly supportive”, some people still look down on his choices.
He continued: “Some people are going to say ‘Disney ruined him’ or ‘He went down a dark path’ or ‘He made dark choices in his life’ and honestly I’m not even here to say what’s right or what’s wrong.
“I chose something that I felt was right for me in my life.”
Dan claims it’s not easy work either.
“You’re doing multiple things at once, marketing, content creation, producing, directing, you’re responsible for it all now,” he explained.
He was 21 when he joined the cast of Wizards of Waverly Place and left the show when it ended after its fourth series in 2012.
Despite his role on the hit series, he said he was only ever recognised for his character, but that’s changed with his newfound fame.
“No one knew my name so it’s a really weird experience now to be kind of way more famous than I was before just because I made this crazy extreme choice into doing more sex work,” he said.
He added: “You can get naked online and then people will know your name. I got recognised at Disneyland.”
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