Harry Potter star Jessie Cave reveals she earned more on OnlyFans in one year than her entire acting career after turning to the platform in 'complete desperation'

Jessie Cave has revealed OnlyFans has 'genuinely saved our lives', after turning to the mostly-explicit content sharing platform in a 'desperate' bid to make money.

The actress, 39, shot to fame at age 20 when she beat 7,000 other auditionees to land the role of Ron Weasley's girlfriend Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter movies.

Since then she has performed sold-out theatre shows in London and Edinburgh but has struggled over the past year with dwindling work opportunities – especially jobs that fit around parenting her four children, who she shares with comedian Alfie Brown.

She explained that childcare costs combined with the potential of Harry Potter fans heckling her put her off working in the likes of a supermarket whilst she can't afford to retrain in another field. 

'I had a breakdown and I thought, that's it with acting, I give up. But also we have no money.'

At the point of 'complete desperation', she joined OnlyFans, where she posts non-sexual, niche hair content aimed at people with a hair fetish, sometimes whilst dressed as Lavender Brown.

Her first post featuring her waist-length locks went viral and she quickly amassed 3,500 subscribers who pay $6 a month for her content, adding to her cash pot with extra paid for messages. 

She earned £15,000 in just one day and in the 18 months since she joined the platform she says she has pocketed more than she has over her entire acting career. 

'I thought I'd make five grand, be on it for a few months and it would buy me time to work out what we're going to do,' she told The Times. 'But it's now been over a year and a half and it's genuinely saved our lives.' 

Jessie added though that whilst she is grateful she can provide for her family and subsidise her theatre work, she was naive about the stigma attached to OnlyFans, and misunderstandings about the type of content she makes. 

She's also aware of the longevity of the job, admitting that the boob job she underwent last year, which was paid for by her subscribers was 'a business decision' as 'my hair can only do so much'.

'I’m not going naked. I don’t even talk on it,' she explained. 'But I don’t know how long I can last if I don’t start giving more. The bottom line is I can’t afford to stop and I do enjoy a lot of it. There’s a lot that I don’t enjoy too.'

Jessie, who is currently performing two shows at Edinburgh Fringe, has said that two decades on from Harry Potter she has some traumatic memories of the movies which propelled her to fame.

Speaking on the RESET the Pod podcast with Alice Maria this week, Jessie said a costume designer shamed her during filming after she put on weight.

'The costume designer came up to me, gripped the fat on my hips and said, "What is this?" She gripped it so hard it left me in pain. I just had to say, "That's my body,"' said the actress.

Jessie also claims that she was told to 'suck in' immediately before filming a Great Hall scene.

'She whispered in my ear, "Suck in, suck in." I immediately started crying. 'The camera was behind me at first, but when it reached my face, you can see in the film that I've got tears in my eyes.'

After returning for the final film weighing 2st heavier, Jessie says she was 'treated like I was invisible'.

'I'd gone in as the exciting love interest, then came back two stone heavier and felt like a complete nobody. It was 100% because of my weight.'

Jessie said her experiences have made her wary of HBO's Harry Potter reboot TV series, which is currently filming, with the first episodes premiering at Christmas. 

Mum of four Jessie insisted 'I would not wish that on my kids. I wouldn't want them to face that scrutiny. You're signing them up for a job where there can be a lot of cruelty – it hardens you.'