Bella Thorne’s OnlyFans Earnings: The $1 Million Day, the $200 Backlash and the Rule Changes

Bella Thorne’s first week on OnlyFans in August 2020 is still the most quoted launch the platform has had. It is also the clearest case of a launch figure that came from the platform itself, followed within days by refund claims, new limits for every creator on the site and a public apology. The money is the smaller part of the story.

This is one of our sourced creator profiles, alongside Iggy Azalea, Camilla Araujo, Bonnie Blue and Mia Khalifa. Same rules: every number carries the outlet and the date in the sentence that uses it, every source was opened first-hand, and anything we could not check stays out. We are an agency writing about the industry we sell into, so read it with that in mind.

The launch, and who announced the number

Thorne announced her account in an Instagram video on 19 August 2020. Variety reported on 26 August 2020 that she had “officially earned over $1 million through revenue on the platform in the first 24 hours after debuting her account, according to the company”, with a subscription of $20 a month, of which creators keep 80%.

The last four words of that sentence matter. The record was not a screenshot she posted or a figure from a fan account; it was OnlyFans announcing it about a celebrity it had just signed up. That makes it more credible than most celebrity numbers, because the platform can see the dashboard. It also makes it marketing, because a platform announcing a record on a famous name is advertising itself to every other famous name.

The first week

• Variety, 26 August 2020: “Since then her earnings from OnlyFans has jumped to about $2 million.”
• TheWrap, 28 August 2020: “$2 million from her page within a week.”
• Rolling Stone, 29 August 2020: the first creator to make more than $1 million in 24 hours, “and then topping $2 million by the end of the week”.

Three outlets, one figure, and all of it traces back to the same launch reporting. None of them says whether the $2 million is what fans paid or what reached her. At the 80% share Variety describes, $2 million paid by fans would be about $1.6 million to her; we do not know which column the number is in, and neither, from the coverage, does anyone else.

One more detail from the Variety piece is easy to miss: “According to her reps, Thorne responds to every DM from her OnlyFans followers.” Even a launch built on a famous name was sold on access to the inbox. On the accounts we manage, roughly 74% of net revenue comes from messages, and her first week was pitched on exactly that.

The $200 controversy

Within days, the story changed from the record to refunds. NBC News reported on 30 August 2020 that “a number of people were reported to have asked for refunds”, saying Thorne had charged $200 for a pay-per-view post that did not deliver what its description promised. Thorne’s position, as NBC News reported it, was that “the screenshot of the supposed offer circulating on social media was falsified”. TheWrap reported the $200 claim on 28 August 2020 as an allegation by users, and reported that her representative did not return its request for comment.

The outlets do not agree on how settled this is. NBC News and TheWrap treat it as an allegation she disputed. PAPER, writing on 15 July 2022, states the $200 offer as fact. We have not seen the original screenshot and cannot say which version is right, so we report both.

What changed for every other creator

The same week, OnlyFans changed its limits. The reports differ on the details, so here is each one as published:

• NBC News, 30 August 2020: a $50 cap on pay-per-view posts, which “comes out to about $30 for creators after platform fees and taxes, whereas workers used to be able to charge $150 to $200”; and “a hold on payments that would force some international creators to wait 30 days”. As the piece put it: “Imagine suddenly going from a weekly paycheck to a monthly paycheck.”
• Inverse, 1 September 2020: “Pay-per-view posts are now capped at $50 and private messages max out at $100, each down from $200”; tips capped at $100 for creators on the platform less than four months; international creators in more than a dozen countries moved “from seven to 21 days”, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that some had to wait 30.
• TheWrap, 28 August 2020: a new cap on pay-per-view prices, and the waiting period before cashing out extended “from seven to 30 days”.

So the payout hold is reported as 21 days or 30, and as applying to some international creators or to creators generally, depending on the outlet. The pay-per-view cap of $50 is the one detail they agree on.

OnlyFans denied a link to her. Its statement to NBC News: “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.” Rolling Stone reported on 29 August 2020 that the platform said the changes were “not based on any one user.” We found no reputable report of exactly when these 2020 limits were later changed, so we do not state today’s limits here.

The backlash, and what she said

Creators who depended on the platform blamed the timing on her. One, quoted by TheWrap on 28 August 2020: “It took 48 hours for Bella Thorne to ruin things for us OF creators…” Their complaint was about money: lower caps and longer waits hit people whose rent came from the site, not a celebrity trying it for a week.

Thorne apologized in a series of tweets on 29 August 2020, quoted by Rolling Stone the same day: “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.” And: “for that I’m truly sorry.” Inverse reported on 1 September 2020 that she said the account was also “research for a film project”; the director Sean Baker, who had been linked to it, said “I’m NOT attached to this project” and that they had only had “a conversation”, as Complex reported on 31 August 2020.

Two years later her tone was different. In Instagram Stories reported by PAPER on 15 July 2022 she wrote: “Everyone jumping on OnlyFans but I took the hit for doing it first, cool.” PAPER also reported that her publicist had kept OnlyFans questions out of a Daily Beast interview in March 2022. We found no later figure from her about what the account earned in total.

What to take from this if you are a creator

• Ask who announced the number. Her $1 million came from the platform, which had every reason to publicize it. A record announced by the company that profits from it is real data and marketing at the same time.
• A week is not an income. Every figure in her story covers the launch week. None tells you what the account made in month three, and that is the number that matters for anyone deciding whether to start.
• What a paid message promises, it has to deliver. The refund claims, whatever their truth, show what happens when buyers feel a description oversold the content: refunds, chargebacks and a story that outlives the record.
• Platform rules move under you. In one week, pay-per-view prices were capped and payouts slowed for many creators who had nothing to do with her. Keep a cash buffer, and never plan around a price limit or a payout schedule staying the same.

For how to read any celebrity income claim, see how to check someone’s OnlyFans earnings. For what accounts outside the headlines actually make, see what OnlyFans creators really make.

Questions creators ask

How much did Bella Thorne make on OnlyFans?

The figures reported are over $1 million in her first 24 hours, according to OnlyFans as reported by Variety on 26 August 2020, and about $2 million within the first week. No outlet reported whether that was gross or net, and we found no total from her after the launch week.

Did Bella Thorne really make $1 million in one day?

That figure came from OnlyFans itself, as Variety reported on 26 August 2020. It has not been contradicted, but it was announced by the platform, not shown in a screenshot.

What was the Bella Thorne $200 controversy?

In August 2020 people were reported to have asked for refunds over a $200 pay-per-view post they said did not match its description. NBC News reported that she said the screenshot of the offer was falsified. Other outlets state the offer as fact, so the accounts differ.

Did OnlyFans change its rules because of Bella Thorne?

OnlyFans introduced a $50 cap on pay-per-view posts and longer payout holds in the same week, but said the changes were not based on any one user. Many creators blamed the timing on her launch.

What is Bella Thorne’s net worth?

There is no documented figure. Net-worth websites publish estimates without a source, and her OnlyFans income beyond the launch week was never disclosed, so we do not repeat them.