Latest news with #BellaThorne
Business Insider
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
'It's a lot quieter in the club'
When Hannah graduated from King's College London in 2019 with a degree in business management, she hoped to build a career in marketing. But after struggling to land work in her field, she took a job at a makeup counter — a position that barely covered the cost of her apartment in central London. After a friend introduced her to stripping, she began working occasional shifts to help make ends meet. Hannah quickly realized she could make far more money at the club, so she ditched her retail job to work independently as a stripper. When the pandemic hit and strip clubs closed, she began dancing at private parties a couple times a month, earning between $2,640 and $4,000 an event, to make rent. After lockdowns lifted, she returned to stripping full time, where she's remained ever since. "You'd think that after studying for three or four years, you could go into a job with better prospects," she says. Though she's applied for the occasional job, she says, "nowadays, it just seems like sex work is the only thing you can go into and actually make decent money." It seems plenty of others are in the same boat. OnlyFans creator accounts surged from around 350,000 in 2019 to 4.1 million in 2023, according to its parent company's latest report. Meanwhile, three times as many provider accounts were created on the escort platform Adult Work in 2022 as in 2019, a Financial Times analysis found. Profiles of women like Bella Thorne — who reportedly made $1 million in 24 hours — made OnlyFans seem like a fast and easy path to wealth. In the face of job rejection emails and seemingly unhelpful university degrees, sex work of all types started to look more like a viable career path for some. While the industry has always skewed young, Gen Z is coming of age amid an internet-driven boom that's luring more and more into the field in pursuit of extra cash and flexible hours. A 2021 study found that the average age of entry to escorting was 22, and a 2024 survey of sex workers in the US found that about 73% of respondents were between 18 and 35, the majority of them women. The deluge quickly created an oversupply of sex workers. Combined with tightening client budgets, rates began to drop. I spoke with several sex workers, whose names have been changed in order to protect their identities, who turned to sex work to weather a tough job market, only to find that an overcrowded market is making the field far less lucrative for some. On Reddit, sex workers have started discussing lowering their rates to attract more clients. One sex worker I spoke with reported a 30% drop in earnings since 2019. And now, as the economy lurches further into chaos, those who saw sex work as a possible backup plan are facing a tough reality. "In the past four months this year, something has happened. People are way stingier than they were," Hannah says. "It's a lot quieter in the club this year." For some graduates in the wake of 2020, sex work offered a rare form of economic opportunity during a time of historic job loss, stagnant wages, and a collapsing job market. "Selling sex has always been the quickest and most direct way to earn money in times of need," says Laura María Agustín, an anthropologist who studies informal labor markets and sex work. That was especially true during the pandemic, which made sex work more visible — and arguably more mainstream — than ever before. After watching the BBC documentary "Strippers" and seeing how much its subjects earned, Alex began stripping to support herself while in school. Having grown up partly in the foster care system, the 28-year-old learned to be independent early on. "I'm quite entrepreneurial and come from a background where I didn't have money, so I was chasing after it," she says. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh in 2019, she continued stripping until landing a job as an executive recruiter in August 2020. Her starting salary for the office job was £20,000, about $27,000, which dropped to £18,000 after three months, with commission expected to make up the difference. Over half of her take-home pay went toward rent. During the pandemic, she experimented with camming— live-streaming adult content for paying viewers — for extra cash. She also tried OnlyFans, which she quickly realized required relentless promotion. "You do not know the slog," she laughs. "Not a dollar was made." After a friend from the strip club started escorting, Alex became curious about the lifestyle and the money she could make. A few months into her job as a recruiter, she began escorting on the side. Soon she was making £6,000 a month. Within two years, she left her day job. "My managers weren't respecting me," she says. "There's this idea that as a junior you're supposed to get your head down and slog, and they don't encourage independent, critical thinking." Maria, 28, also turned to sex work after growing disillusioned with traditional employment. She'd worked as a paralegal in Australia before moving to London, where she took a job as a receptionist at a law firm. The longer hours, lower pay, and lack of flexibility quickly wore her down. It wasn't until she met a colleague — a fellow receptionist who supplemented her income by dancing in strip clubs — that she began to consider a different path. Soon, she traded the legal office for strip clubs across London and the US. Lately, though, the work hasn't been as lucrative. Maria says that despite six years of experience, she's making about the same as she did in 2019 when she was a "baby stripper and didn't know anything." Back then, she says, "there was way more foot traffic in the clubs." Now, she says, "customers are definitely stingier." She earns around £5,200 a month for three to four nights of work a week. "I've got so much more knowledge and experience — I should be making more," she says. Maria attributes that to the economic downturn of the past few years. "People are cheaper and don't want to spend as much. A lot of guys are still saying, 'It's the cost-of-living crisis, I can't afford that,'" she says. Several US posters in the r/sexworkers Reddit thread said they began noticing a decline in earnings just as economists started talking about a recession after President Donald Trump announced tariffs. Recently, more posters have said business is unusually slow and clients are more demanding. Andrew Lokenauth, a data analyst and founder of TheFinanceNewsletter, who has tracked the sex work industry for 15 years, says revenue at clubs dropped by 35% to 40% from 2022 to 2024 across major US cities. In his work as a financial advisor for strip clubs, he has seen clubs shut down, reduce staff, and cut back their hours as a result of the downturn, and predicts more will close. "Strip clubs are a winter sport. You're supposed to make the most money in winter," Hannah says. This year, "the earnings weren't as good as we thought they would have been." Before the pandemic, she says, she was averaging between £5,000 and £7,000 a month for four nights of work a week. Now, she averages between £4,000 and £5,000 for the same amount of work. "Older girls say they easily made £1,000 a night before 2008, but now that's pretty rare in London," Hannah says. She adds that she's lucky because she has a couple of regulars who come consistently; she's noticed a lot of girls end up sitting around at the club because there aren't enough customers. "You can still make good money, but you just have to work really hard," she says. There is no middle class in sex work anymore. The recent belt-tightening comes on the heels of years of upheaval in the industry after the accessibility of sex work platforms like OnlyFans and AdultWork flooded the market with sex workers. Camille Sojit Pejcha, a journalist and the author of the sex and culture newsletter Pleasure-Seeking, says this "created a new hierarchy that rewards celebrities and influencers while pushing everyday sex workers to the margins." While there are still OnlyFans creators pulling in over $100,000 a month, Lokenauth says average monthly earnings on the platform dropped from about $600 to under $200 in two years. "I've interviewed sex workers and ghostwriters at major agencies, and they all say the same thing: 'There is no middle class in sex work anymore,'" Pejcha says. (Many top creators on OnlyFans now hire ghostwriters to write posts and reply to messages.) Charlotte saw this firsthand. She began stripping at 19 while in college, just before the 2008 recession slashed corporate entertainment budgets and sent club earnings into decline. She left the industry in her early 20s and moved into conventional work. Now in her mid-30s and paying off a mortgage after buying a flat in London, she returned to sex work last year — this time as an escort. After a decade away, she found herself in a very different landscape — one where oversaturation, falling rates, and burnout have become the norm. Before the 2008 financial crash, she said, she was making up to £2,000 a night dancing in a strip club. She expected escorting to yield even more, given the greater level of intimacy involved. But her rates have capped out at £300 to £400 an hour, and she averages £1,000 to £3,000 a week — often less than what she once earned in a single night during the strip-club boom years. "I'm finding it hard," she says. "This just doesn't feel normal — am I the only one struggling?" Charlotte attributes the shift to the glutted market. "It ruined everything," she says. "Men could buy sex as cheaply as ordering Uber Eats." With so much competition for bookings, even self-described "high-end" escorts — "posh English girls with premium high rates," as Charlotte puts it — were forced to adapt. "Even those of us on AdultWork dropped our rates to ensure we got bookings," she says. While £1,000 to £3,000 a week may seem like good money to many, Charlotte argues that the nature of sex work — which she describes as intrinsically "violent" and often dangerous — warrants a higher rate of return. "Sex work should be high reward and high payoff money-wise, because a lot of us suffer in doing this work," she says. "It's about survival, getting enough money to survive. I would never in a million years want to sleep with any of these men. I wanted to be paid insanely well." Many of the women I spoke with initially saw sex work as a loophole in the labor market where, if you hustled hard enough, you could achieve financial autonomy faster than traditional jobs allow. For a generation raised on self-branding and self-reliance, it promised flexibility, autonomy, and a lot of money — a kind of shortcut to the American dream. But the slowdown shows that sex work is governed by the same market forces as any other sector. A study at the University of Chicago examined prostitution after the 2008 recession and found that it " is more sensitive to changes in unemployment, income, or other macro factors that decrease consumer demand." In other words, when the economy contracts, so does the sex industry. For some, the easy money from the boom days has changed their view of pursuing other kinds of work. Asia de la Rosa was 15 when the pandemic began and started selling foot pics and catfishing content on Snapchat. She began making "the most money I've ever touched in my life" — $45,000 in one summer. Eventually, the app cracked down on sex work and banned her profile, but the money changed her view on life. Now 20 and working in a bodega in Manhattan for $16 an hour, she is uninterested in pursuing a conventional career. "Seeing how much money I made, going back to regular work — it's like, 'That's not my worth,'" she says. She still occasionally sells foot pictures to fetishists on the side. Alex is also uninterested in going back on the job market; she's having a good time and earning up to £10,000 a month. She's able to weather the effects of saturation, because "clients who like me, still like me," she says. She plans to keep escorting until she's 35 — maybe longer. "I give people a lot of joy, and I'd feel bad for them if I was to stop." If she pivots in the future, she could imagine starting her own business or working for herself. For those who aren't starting their own ventures, the tough job market is making it increasingly difficult to transition out of sex work. Zoe, who's 32 and has been in and out of the industry for a decade, worries that her decision to go into sex work may cost her in the long run. "How am I going to explain two years out of work on my CV?" she asks. She puts "client relations" on her résumé, but when recruiters ask for examples, she's stumped. "I can't say, 'I do dinner dates with executives from Google.'" Maria also worries about her ability to transition into more conventional work in her 30s. "When I got into the industry, I didn't have any career goals. I've always been a 'live in the moment' kind of person — do what makes you happy right now — and stripping fit that mentality. But after living in the present for maybe a bit too long, I've realized I haven't really figured out what I want to do. So in that sense, stripping may have held me back." Melissa Ditmore, who has researched the sex work industry in the US, says this dynamic is typical these days. "Some of this is related to youth," she says. "But some of it is structural — career planning is harder in today's labor market, with traditional paths to upward mobility shrinking." Hannah's lifestyle now depends on a stripper's income, and for the time being, she sees it as a better option than returning to a 9-to-5. She launched a clothing brand last year with the hope that it would eventually allow her to leave the industry — "sex work is a really good way to learn how to manage a business, as businesses are very unpredictable." But she isn't optimistic about getting out anytime soon. Megan Robinson is a freelance writer covering culture, intimacy, and labor. She's also an editor at Dough! magazine, where she writes about the intersection of culture and economics.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Claims Nicola Peltz is ‘billionaire mean girl' Bella Thorne said ‘never had to work for anything in her life'
After spoke in 2015 about a 'billionaire mean girl' who she 'stays away from at all costs' the recent rift between Nicola Peltz and the Beckham family has re-opened speculation that she was the actress's target. It has followed claims Peltz has been keeping her husband Brooklyn Beckham from attending events with his family, including his father David's 50th birthday celebrations. After Thorne spoke out against a mystery Hollywood star who she called a 'very, very mean girl', there was speculation it could be Kylie or Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, or even Ariana Grande, but model Nicola, then 20, was already frontrunner. In the interview with HuffPostLive, Bella said: 'It's not I hate her because she's a billionaire. I don't like her because she is a billionaire and makes sure everyone knows that she is.' She added: 'I never say hello to her. Her siblings are not mean like she is. It's just her. 'One of the reasons I don't like her is because she's been a billionaire since she was very little, and she's never had to work for anything in her life.' Nicola's father Nelson Peltz is a billionaire investor who started his career as a delivery truck driver and worked his way up to launch one of the biggest food distributing companies in the world. He is now worth more than the Beckhams - with a net worth of $1.6billion - while her mother is a former model. The family lives on a sprawling estate in Bedford, New York, and own an equally luxurious spread in Florida. Nicola is thought to be worth $50million after beginning her career as a model before moving into acting. The star also has seven siblings and two half-siblings. Bella is friendly with her brother Will with the pair pictured together at Milan Fashion week in 2022. Bella's comment came just a year after Nicola starred in the 2014 independent film Affluenza opposite Greg Sulkin, who was Bella's boyfriend at the time, suggesting the pair would have had plenty of opportunity to run into each other. MailOnline have contacted both Nicola and Bella's representatives for comment. Fans at the time speculated she was referring to Nicola as they took to social media to air their views. One penned: 'Bella might not have been singling out one girl, but if I had to pick one, I'm placing my bet on Nicola Peltz. 'Nicola is an actress around the same age as Bella so there could be some competition for roles there, she starred in a movie with Bella's current boyfriend Gregg so that could cause some problems, she has a ton of siblings (one who is also an actor), and she literally comes from a billionaire family.' Others wrote: 'She's talking about Nicola Peltz lmao'; 'NICOLA PELTZ'; ' 'Apparently it's about Nicola peltz? Maybe!!!! She's a billionaire beauty and one of her bf's was on set ist her or something idk. That's just what I read'; 'The girl she was talking about is Nicola Peltz (from Transformers, Bates Motel). Nicola literally was born rich and now she's starting a career in the Hollywood industry. 'They always hated each other since a long time ago. Bella thoughts her siblings are good because she's a good friend of Will Peltz (her brother) but she still doesn't like Nicola.' Over on Twitter others have tweeted over the years: 'every time I hear about nicola peltz all I think about is how much Bella Thorne hates her they're enemies'; 'When I hear the name Nicola Peltz, all I can think about is those stories of her pushing nannies down the stairs as a kid, and the one about Bella Thorne calling her a bully.'; 'Bella Thorne and Nicola Peltz are enemies and I am living for it'; Another on Reddit penned: 'Bella Thorne came out years ago describing who people thought was Nicola and I think its probably likely true? 'Bella was dating Greg Sulkin around that time and Nicola dated Cameron Fuller who is best friends with Greg, so they definitely hung out'.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Is Nicola Peltz Hollywood's mystery 'billionaire mean girl'? How actress Bella Thorne issued warning about 'rich from a young age' starlet ten years ago - as speculation falls on Brooklyn Beckham's wife
The rift between the Beckham clan and Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn is showing no signs of healing. Last weekend The Mail exclusively revealed how tensions between the British family and American actress are being blamed for Brooklyn and Peltz's failure to attend David's 50th birthday earlier this month. Friends of the family have accused Nicola of keeping Brooklyn from family events, and claimed she created 'drama'. However it seems the signs of Nicola's difficult nature could have perhaps been there for years. Back in 2015 actress Bella Thorne famously spoke out against a mystery Hollywood star who she branded a 'very, very mean girl'. At the time her comment set the rumour mill running with speculation rife over who she was really referring too. While names such as Kylie and Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid and even Ariana Grande were called into question, it was believed the frontrunner for the title was model Nicola, who was 20 at the time. In the interview with HuffPostLive, Bella talked about why she hated the unnamed young woman whom, she told Seventeen magazine, she 'stays away from at all costs.' 'It's not I hate her because she's a billionaire. I don't like her because she is a billionaire and makes sure everyone knows that she is,' the former Shake It Off star said. She added: 'I never say hello to her. Her siblings are not mean like she is. It's just her. 'One of the reasons I don't like her is because she's been a billionaire since she was very little, and she's never had to work for anything in her life.' Nicola's father is a billionaire investor who started his career as a delivery truck driver and worked his way up to launch one of the biggest food distributing companies in the world. He is now worth more than the Beckhams - with a stunning net worth of $1.6 billion - while her mother is a former model. The family lives on a sprawling estate in Bedford, New York, and own an equally luxurious spread in Florida. Nicola is thought to be worth £39 million after beginning her career as a model before moving into acting. The star also has seven siblings and two half-siblings. Bella is friendly with her brother Will with the pair pictured together at Milan Fashion week in 2022. Bella's comment came just a year after Nicola starred in the 2014 independent film Affluenza opposite Greg Sulkin, who was Bella's boyfriend at the time, suggesting the pair would have had plenty of opportunity to run into each other. MailOnline have contacted both Nicola and Bella's representatives for comment. Fans at the time speculated she was referring to Nicola as they took to social media to air their views. One penned: 'Bella might not have been singling out one girl, but if I had to pick one, I'm placing my bet on Nicola Peltz. 'Nicola is an actress around the same age as Bella so there could be some competition for roles there, she starred in a movie with Bella's current boyfriend Gregg so that could cause some problems, she has a ton of siblings (one who is also an actor), and she literally comes from a billionaire family.' Others wrote: 'She's talking about Nicola Peltz lmao'; 'NICOLA PELTZ'; ' 'Apparently it's about Nicola peltz? Maybe!!!! She's a billionaire beauty and one of her bf's was on set ist her or something idk. That's just what I read'; 'The girl she was talking about is Nicola Peltz (from Transformers, Bates Motel). Nicola literally was born rich and now she's starting a career in the Hollywood industry. Fans at the time speculated she was referring to Nicola as they took to social media to air their views 'They always hated each other since a long time ago. Bella thoughts her siblings are good because she's a good friend of Will Peltz (her brother) but she still doesn't like Nicola.' Over on Twitter others have tweeted over the years: 'every time I hear about nicola peltz all I think about is how much Bella Thorne hates her they're enemies'; 'When I hear the name Nicola Peltz, all I can think about is those stories of her pushing nannies down the stairs as a kid, and the one about Bella Thorne calling her a bully.'; 'Bella Thorne and Nicola Peltz are enemies and I am living for it'; Another on Reddit penned: 'Bella Thorne came out years ago describing who people thought was Nicola and I think its probably likely true? 'Bella was dating Greg Sulkin around that time and Nicola dated Cameron Fuller who is best friends with Greg, so they definitely hung out'. Rumours of a feud between the Beckhams and their daughter-in-law were sparked on the wedding day itself, when Nicola opted to wear a Versace bridal gown instead of one of Victoria's designs. However Nicola went on to squash the rumours and the pair had gone on to put on a very supportive display of one another. They would praise each others work, appear at events together and even post tributes to each other on social media. However things have since turned sour and Brooklyn and Nicola were no shows at any of David's 50th birthday celebrations earlier this month. The Mail revealed that a rift with Nicola is at the centre of the breakdown in relations - despite the Beckhams' best efforts to support and champion their eldest son's wife since their 2022 wedding. On Monday Brooklyn came close to bumping into his father David during a fly-in visit to London. The aspiring chef was back in the UK posing for a new modelling campaign with upscale fashion company Moncler following strained relations with the wider Beckham family. While Brooklyn was taking part in the photoshoot, his father David was just half a mile up the road at the Chelsea Flower Show chatting to King Charles and Queen Camilla. It was a fly-in visit for Brooklyn who arrived in London early Monday morning and was at the photoshoot from 9am until around 4pm. He then went to his hotel in Park Lane to have a relaxed evening with Nicola and flew back to America at 7am on Tuesday. He opted not to stay at the Beckham's family home in Holland Park which was located close by the shoot. David and Victoria are understood to be devastated following a fall-out with Brooklyn, who lives in the United States with his wife and her wealthy family. Taking to Instagram on Monday, Victoria, 51, appeared to offer an olive branch by sharing a group photo of their four children alongside her father, Tony Adams - who celebrated his birthday over the weekend, with the accompanying message: 'We both love you all so much!' The undated photo also features Victoria's mother Jackie, flanked by Brooklyn and his siblings Romeo, 22, Cruz, 20, and Harper, 13. David is allegedly 'desperate to make amends with his son as he fears history is repeating itself' following his bitter fall out with his father Ted in 2005. In the latest evidence of this, David included Brooklyn in a post about Mother's Day in the U.S. as he dedicated a post to the mother of his children, Victoria. Over the weekend, David reached out to his son on social media as rumours of their family feud continue to bubble. A sweet black and white photo showed Victoria cuddled up with her four kids, soon after welcoming their daughter Harper.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Spring Breakers 2 sparks backlash as first look at cast is revealed
A sequel to the controversial 2012 film Spring Breakers is on the way and it is set to star Bella Thorne. The original, directed by transgressive filmmaker Harmony Korine, follows four college girls as they rob a diner to fund a trip to Florida for Spring Break. The R-rated flick starred James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens. Now, more than a decade later, a sequel titled Spring Breakers: Salvation Mountain, will be directed by Harmony Korine and heading up the cast is former child star Thorne. She is joined by social media star Baby Ariel and Netflix star Grace Van Dien, best known for Greenhouse Academy and Stranger Things. Several social media users have reacted negatively to the news, with one commenting: 'We don't need this.' Another wrote: 'It's giving straight to dvd.' A third said: 'Why? Nobody even remembers this movie. It's not Mean Girls!' Despite Korine and the original cast not returning for the sequel, the producers of the original feature, Muse Production's Chris Hanley and Jordan Gertner, are back. In a statement they said: 'We're thrilled to be working with Christian and Capture on Spring Breakers: Salvation Mountain and excited to keep exploring bold, new, disruptive stories around that wild, fever dream of youth. 'The desire for spring break to go on forever is something we've never let go of.' The original Spring Breakers premiered at film festivals in 2012 before receiving a wide release the following year. It grossed over $30million on a $5million budget, making it a huge financial success. Despite receiving mixed reviews at the time, the film went on to achieve cult status and was credited for establishing Gomez as an adult actress. Gomez had the role of Faith, a young woman who tries to devote her life to Christianity but at the same time is also friends with the three party girls.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Long-awaited Spring Breakers 2 sparks backlash as shock cast is revealed
A sequel to the controversial 2012 film Spring Breakers is on the way. The original, directed by transgressive filmmaker Harmony Korine, follows four college girls as they rob a diner to fund a trip to Florida for Spring Break. The R-rated arthouse flick starred James Franco, along with Disney darlings Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens in their first adult roles. Now, more than a decade later, a sequel has been greenlit with a new cast and director. News of the latest instalment has received a mixed reception from cinephiles so far, with many stating that a Spring Breakers sequel is unnecessary. Titled Spring Breakers: Salvation Mountain, the sequel is being helmed by Harmony Korine, best known for the edgy 1999 cult classic Freeway starring a young Reese Witherspoon. Heading up the cast is former child star Bella Thorne, who got her break on Disney before shedding her squeaky clean image with a series of gritty roles, X-rated fashion choices, and even a stint on OnlyFans. She is joined by social media star Baby Ariel and Netflix star Grace Van Dien, best known for Greenhouse Academy and Stranger Things. A lot of fans have reacted negatively to the news so far, with one commenting, 'We don't need this.' Another commented, 'It's giving straight to dvd,' while a third added, 'We don't need this - this is going to be worse than American Psycho 2.' A fourth wrote, 'Why? Nobody even remembers this movie. It's not Mean Girls!' Despite Korine and the original cast not returning for the sequel, the producers of the original feature, Muse Production's Chris Hanley and Jordan Gertner, are back. 'We're thrilled to be working with Christian and Capture on Spring Breakers: Salvation Mountain and excited to keep exploring bold, new, disruptive stories around that wild, fever dream of youth,' they said in a statement. 'The desire for spring break to go on forever is something we've never let go of.' The original Spring Breakers premiered at film festivals in 2012 before receiving a wide release the following year. It grossed over $30 million on a $5 million budget, making it a huge financial success. Despite receiving mixed reviews at the time, the film has gone to achieve cult status and was credited for establishing Gomez as a credible adult actress. Gomez had the role of Faith, a young women who tries to devote her life to Christianity but at the same time is also friends with the three party girls. The news comes after Spring Breakers star and former actress Rachel Korine looked nearly unrecognizable during a rare public outing. The mother of three, 38, who played rebellious Cotty in the film, cut a low-key figure during a stroll in New York City. Korine sported dyed pink hair and donned revealing bikinis for her turn in the film alongside Gomez, Hudgens, and Ashley Benson. The actresses portrayed four college-aged girls who go on spring break in St. Petersburg, Florida and meet an eccentric local drug dealer who helps them out when they find themselves in a desperate situation. Ultimately, they descend into a world of drugs, crime, and violence in a film that was actually written and directed by Korine's husband Harmony, 52.
