Entertainment
How I make six figures on OnlyFans without taking my clothes off
OnlyFans has become synonymous with porn. So much so that, a few years ago, when the platform announced it was banning explicit content, it received such backlash that it reversed course.
But not all OnlyFans models have sex on camera — and some don’t even get naked. Sophie Annaston is one of these creators, and she’s built a six-figure-a-year business on the platform. (Annaston shared a screenshot of a month’s OnlyFans earnings with Mashable to verify.)
“There’s nothing nude on my feed,” Annaston told Mashable. “I share try-ons,” or videos of her trying on different clothes. “I’ll share toy hauls — but my panties always stay on.”
Annaston spoke to Mashable about how she scaled her OnlyFans so high while doing softcore and her many other streams of income.
From TikTok to OnlyFans
Annaston’s fiancé actually got into content creation before she did. He started YouTube in 2017, and when the pandemic hit, he quit his full-time job; YouTube matched his previous salary, and he started making even more.
“That was really motivating for me,” Annaston said.
At the time, she struggled to figure out what she wanted to do. During the peak of the COVID pandemic, she dropped out of school and quit her job to pursue a career on TikTok. While building her following, she began offering eBooks, such as an IBS Trigger Checklist, and eventually launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund a wellness journal.
Around two years later, she started posting to YouTube, where she had a Shein brand deal and tried on the site’s bikinis. She became so overwhelmed with the response (100,000 views in two days, according to Annaston) that she deleted the video.
Around that time, a friend of hers told her how much money she was making on OnlyFans — so she asked her fiancé if it was OK to do it herself, and she set up her OnlyFans as a “call to action” for future YouTube videos. She kept uploading try-on videos and got millions of views, which really established her OnlyFans following.
Annaston kept posting on mainstream social media, kept up the wellness journal business, and independently published a book, called A Book About Wellness, in 2024.
“I want to have just a bunch of different directions,” she said. “My OnlyFans […] allows me to fund creative projects,” she said.
On top of all of this, Annaston has a Patreon page where she teaches other women the ins and outs of OnlyFans. “I have a female audience who really trusts me and values my advice on Patreon,” she said, who find her from YouTube and even Reddit.
There, she writes in-depth articles about the psychology behind her OnlyFans strategy — topics include why posts work or don’t, how to build a scalable strategy, and how she can do this without crossing her boundaries — those boundaries being nudity and sex on camera. So what does Annaston actually post on OnlyFans?
Mashable Trend Report
What Annaston posts on OnlyFans
“I’m basically a big tease,” Annaston joked, “which, for a lot of my fans, from what I’ve heard, is actually [more fun] than full visibility. So I focus on suggestive content, partial nudity.”
“I’m basically a big tease.”
She’ll post strip teases and get her fans to buy what she wears — like the viral $450 panty advent calendar from SKIMS. Annaston ran a fundraiser on OnlyFans for fans to buy; they did so “immediately,” and she made content with that for the entire month of December.
Annaston posts PPVs (pay-per-view videos) a couple of times a week, and her fans can request videos, but she doesn’t sell custom 1-1 videos.
And she doesn’t use an agency or management like many top OnlyFans creators do; she’s a one-woman show. So she answers messages on OnlyFans, but emphasizes that fans need to tip if they want her attention.
“Fortunately, it really works,” she said, “and my subscribers love the fact that they know that they’re helping me […] for all my creative projects. I’m not here buying a sports car or something.”
Why not nudity?
Porn and its creators are highly scrutinized in our society. Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for President Trump’s second term, calls for porn to be banned and its makers imprisoned. And while no laws stating this have been passed yet, several have been introduced in the United States.
And online censorship of sexual content has been going on for longer than the release of Project 2025. Online sex workers (as well as LGBTQ creators, erotic artists, and other non-sex workers) have told Mashable over the years that their social media accounts have been banned or shadowbanned (deprioritized, unable to be searched for).
And since 2022, age verification laws have swept the United States and the Western world. These laws typically require proof of age like a government ID or a facial scan to view websites that host a certain amount of explicit content. This has resulted in a decrease in sex workers’ income.
Between societal sex shaming and legislative censorship, it’s no wonder that OnlyFans creators may not want to delve into porn. Even on YouTube, where Annaston racked up millions of views with try-on hauls, cracked down on this type of content in the last year. YouTube’s nudity and sexual content policy states that even clothed genitals, breasts, or buttocks “that are meant for sexual gratification” can’t be posted on the platform.
Annaston deleted several try-on videos with millions of views and discussed it in a separate YouTube video, calling it the “end of an era.” (Annaston has a separate try-on YouTube channel that she’s uploaded to recently, but usually she sticks to trying on pajamas.)
Annaston said that if she started posting explicit content, she would lose out on other opportunities — which, given our prudish society, is likely true. In addition to OnlyFans, Annaston has brand deals, her wellness journal, and her Patreon.
“Working with brands, it is really fulfilling, being able to work with big brands and have a media kit and then just, have a book and a journal, and maybe down the road, I can have my book in bookstores, all these different things where it’s like, if I, if I branched out into explicit content, extreme content, like, all those Things would just disappear out of my reach,” she told Mashable.
There’s a niche for everything, and while her niche of non-nude softcore is smaller, it exists — and she has leverage over not posting nude, she said.
“It’s just a very slippery slope, because once you set expectations, your audience is going to feel entitled to a certain type of content, and then you kind of lose that leverage,” she said.
Annaston doesn’t shame explicit creators, though. “We’re all in very different lanes,” she said. “I don’t try to compare myself to those types of creators, adult creators, celebrity creators, who have these huge built-in audiences.”
Business success from an OnlyFans creator
Annaston views her OnlyFans success the same way she views her social media success. “I think they’re hand in hand,” she said. “OnlyFans is an extension of my social media.” And she believes success is determined by social media, not how extreme one’s content is.
In business, she continued, the best way to learn is hands-on experience and trial and error. “There have been so many things I tried and failed,” including a lash business, “and then I just found something that worked.”
“I just found a way to branch out and not limit myself to just OnlyFans or just brand deals,” she said.
And Annaston doesn’t mind spilling her secrets, as she does on her Patreon. She said, “As much as I think I’m a very unique creator, I think, to some degree, anyone could replicate my strategy.”
Entertainment
Nicole Kidman’s R-Rated Satire On Netflix Is A Masterclass In Manipulation
By Robert Scucci
| Updated
After watching Nicole Kidman’s Before I Go To Sleep on Netflix a couple weeks ago, I needed something that didn’t completely waste her talent. My search led me to 1995’s To Die For, which has such a stacked cast you’d think I was exaggerating if you didn’t check IMDb or Wikipedia yourself. Going as pitch black as a Gus Van Sant comedy can get, To Die For showcases Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Kurtwood Smith, Wayne Knight, Matt Dillon, and even David Cronenberg in a brief appearance.
It’s a fourth-wall-breaking film that works as a thriller, comedy, drama, and mockumentary all at once, rolled into a murder mystery centered on Nicole Kidman’s Suzanne Stone, a woman so obsessed with fame and fortune that she throws her entire life away when nobody around her sticks to the script.
Multiple Timelines Effortlessly Intersect
There are two narratives in To Die For that strip away any real sense of mystery from the premise. Through television interviews, we’re introduced to Suzanne Stone, who got off scot-free after her husband, Larry Maretto (Matt Dillon), was murdered. We know she’s involved, maybe even directly responsible, right off the rip, but that’s not what the film is interested in. Instead, we get a full character breakdown of Suzanne and her sociopathic commitment to becoming a TV star. We know Larry is dead, and we know she had something to do with it. The story then rewinds to show us how everything led up to those interviews, introducing everyone she crossed paths with along the way.
Desperate to become a world-famous TV correspondent, Suzanne grows resentful of her husband Larry, despite the fact that he gives up his band and focuses on work so he can support her dreams. The guy does a complete 180, even though he comes from a mob-connected family running multiple successful businesses. In other words, Larry was never a screwup, but he still buckles down when he falls in love with Suzanne because he wants the best for her. That contrast exists purely to show just how unhinged Suzanne is when it comes to chasing clout.
While Larry works his ass off, occasionally hinting that he’d like to start a family, Suzanne takes a job at WWEN, a local cable network, under the supervision of Ed Grant (Wayne Knight), who we learn through interviews is absolutely terrified of her. It’s one thing to be ambitious, but Suzanne is aggressively so, making most people rightfully suspicious of what she’s capable of, including Larry’s sister Janice (Illeana Douglas).
While working her way toward a weather girl position, Suzanne recruits naive high school students for a “Teens Speak Out” documentary she hopes will launch her career. She pulls in a troublemaker named Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), who immediately falls under her spell, along with Lydia (Alison Folland), who admires her, and Russell (Casey Affleck), who was basically forced to participate. With three teenagers eating out of the palm of her hand, Suzanne starts plotting how to get rid of Larry, who she believes is holding her back because he wants a traditional life she finds completely suffocating.
A Masterclass In Manipulation
If I had to compare Nicole Kidman’s Suzanne to anybody, it would be Reese Witherspoon’s Tracy Flick from Election. She’s beautiful, driven, and easily the most dangerous person you could cross paths with if you happen to be in her way of her goals. Suzanne’s ruthlessness is initially softened by how charming and driven she is when she makes her first impressions. When you apply that level of manipulation to a group of teenagers, it’s only a matter of time before they start doing exactly what you want. This dynamic comes to a head when Suzanne fully sinks her hooks into Jimmy.
But nobody here is innocent. Suzanne may be the mastermind who sets everything in motion, but everyone else is self-aware enough to know better. That’s where half the fun comes from. Jimmy might be infatuated, but he still makes his own choices. Suzanne sizes him up, offers him a version of the life he thinks he wants, and he goes along with it despite the consequences because he’s short-sighted and naive. It’s fascinating to watch because at any point, anyone in Suzanne’s orbit could have just said “nah” and walked away. But they don’t.
One of the more uniquely structured black comedies I’ve seen in a while, To Die For is equal parts morbid and hilarious. Every character is painfully short-sighted, and they all become worse versions of themselves the moment they fall for Suzanne’s tricks. And while you should hate Suzanne for being an objectively terrible person, you still end up rooting for her because she’s living life on her own terms, just in the most antisocial way possible.
To Die For is currently streaming on Netflix.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for April 19, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will be a little easier if you love baseball.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
Mashable Top Stories
Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: AL East Teams
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Green: First Words of Football Positions
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Blue: Premier League Managers
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Purple: Nicknames for the Dodgers Franchise, Over Time
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #573 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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AL East Teams — BLUE JAYS, ORIOLES, RAYS, YANKEES
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First Words of Football Positions — DEFENSIVE, RUNNING, TIGHT, WIDE
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Premier League Managers — EMERY, GUARDIOLA, MOYES, SLOT
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Nicknames for the Dodgers Franchise, Over Time — BRIDEGROOMS, DODGERS, ROBINS, SUPERBAS
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 19, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you have a sweet tooth.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today
Mashable Top Stories
Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Yellow: Lippy
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Green: Gowns
-
Blue: Played in Vegas
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Purple: Sweet treats
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Cheeky
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Green: Dress measurements
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Blue: Cards in Texas Hold ‘Em
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Purple: Last words of candy brands in the singular
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections #1043 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Cheeky: ARCH, FRESH, SASSY, WISE
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Dress measurements: BUST, HIPS, LENGTH, WAIST
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Cards in Texas Hold ‘Em: FLOP, HOLE, RIVER, TURN
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Last words of candy brands in the singular: CAP, DUD, KID, MINT
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
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