Sarah Jayne Dunn has hit back at trolls who criticized her for joining the racy subscription site Fans onlyinsisting she “knows she’s a great mother.”
The former Hollyoaks star, 44, famously joined the platform five years ago to share lingerie-clad photos, with the move leading to her quitting the soap.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Sarah shared that she was forced to hit back at men online who criticized her for joining OnlyFans, saying she has especially come under fire from users as a mother who posts on the platform.
Sarah, who shares son Stanley with her husband Jonathan Smith, responded to the criticism by insisting she wants to set a good example for her child by being a “strong, independent woman.”
The actress, who will soon be seen on OFTV’s quiz show Race Of Wits, said: ‘To be honest it was mostly positive. Still, I mean, like everyone on social media, whether you’re in the public eye or not, there are trolls.
‘I called up a few guys today because they just have something to say about everything. You can’t do right, you can’t do wrong.
Sarah Jayne Dunn has hit back at trolls who criticized her for joining racy subscription site OnlyFans, insisting she ‘knows she’s a great mother’
“So I feel like if you live in that box where you’re forever worried about what people will think or what people will say, you’ll never do anything and you’ll stay small forever.
“So I think it’s important for people to push boundaries and speak out and yes, I’ve had a very positive experience, but of course there are trolls, of course there are people who disagree, of course there are people who have something to say.
“One of the biggest things I got was ‘oh, you’re a mother’ and that really annoys me because I feel like as women we’re told that once you’re married or have kids or reach a certain age you’re no longer valid or you should just slink away into the shadows and basically that’s just bull c**p.
‘So I really think: why wouldn’t I do that? I can be a mom and a great mom and I can still be myself and be Sarah and have hobbies and be connected to myself and feel sexy and wear what I want to wear.
‘And I think it’s very important that I do that.
“I think it’s really important that my son, especially as a son, sees a strong, independent woman and that he sees his mother being a bad guy and holding her own.
“I think there should be more people doing that and saying this is what women are and this is what we can all be and that’s cool, that’s okay.”
Sarah also shared that her husband Jonathan has always supported her decision to post on OnlyFans, adding: “It’s not even a new direction. I think, as my husband always said, ‘You don’t do anything different than what you did before’, but other than now you are in control and you are happier.
“So he’s kind of in a win-win situation. You do what you did, but you make money from it. You have complete control over it.
The actress, who shares son Stanley with her husband Jonathan Smith, responded to the criticism by saying she wants to set a good example for her child.
Sarah famously joined the platform to share lingerie-clad photos five years ago, and the move led to her being fired from Hollyoaks
“And you have all this freedom of time. I can do the school run. If Stan has a small production at school, I can make sure I’m there at the parents’ evening.
‘I can make sure I’m there, I have complete freedom in my planning. I’ve never had that before. If you’re an actor, you don’t do that. Or it is clear that people who work from nine to five often do not have that freedom. And it’s amazing that I have that. I am eternally grateful to you.’
Sarah famously joined OnlyFans in 2021 while she was still a member of the Hollyoaks cast, and after a meeting with soap bosses it was reported that she had been ‘kicked’ from the show.
Bosses stated at the time that her decision to post on the platform was “not in line” with the soap’s target audience, but the actress doubled down and continued to promote her content on the site.
Speaking about her decision to first join the platform, Sarah told the Daily Mail: ‘It was post-COVID and I was looking for a way to just have more control over my career, my schedule and my income.
‘I posted pictures on social media anyway, via Hollyoaks of course. I had been making boys’ magazines all my life, and the calendars and all that stuff that went with that show.
‘And then I had just turned 40, so I had done a lot of shoots myself, mainly for my self-confidence.
“I just wanted to take ownership of being a woman, getting older and feeling good about myself. So I’ve done a lot of shoots, like bikinis, lingerie, again, things that I’ve just done my whole life. It’s kind of second nature.
‘It was a photographer I know who said: why don’t you generate income from your photos? You put them on social media and they belong to everyone and anyone, you lose control of them.
“For so long throughout my career, I had no control over what my photos looked like, who took them, what their creative style was, whether I got money from them or not.
Sarah has also reunited with her former Hollyoaks co-star James Sutton to star on OnlyFans’ free-to-view platform OFTV, in the series Race of Wits
‘The more and more I looked at OnlyFans, the more it made sense. Why not create the content I was creating anyway, but have full control over it? Obviously that was five years ago and it’s still one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
Sarah went on to say that she ‘absolutely’ feels that the stigma of posting content on OnlyFans has decreased since she joined.
She added: “I have seen a change in the last five years. It was very controversial when I first joined.
‘I think mainly because of the hypocrisy between what I was already doing and the fact that I wasn’t doing anything else.
‘But I don’t think there would be such an outcry now if someone jumped on it, there are other actors and actresses there.
“Obviously James just jumped on it and he’s really successful there and he’s really enjoying the platform.
“In America no one bats an eye, I think in Britain we’re quite squeamish and I feel like we’re a bit behind the times in that sense and just being aware of, even if it’s obviously on OnlyFans, there’s all kinds of different content.
“I think even if women just have their own choices and have control, and there’s a lot that doesn’t exist right now, of women being empowered and actually going, I want to be in control and I’m not okay with this.
“I feel like there’s a real wave of strong women coming and going in all different sectors and in all different industries who are really empowered and asking for more.
“I feel like OnlyFans was the start of me finding my voice. So I feel like the landscape has changed over the last five years and people understand the platform better now.”
In addition to her work on the subscription site, Sarah has also reunited with her former Hollyoaks co-star James Sutton to star on OnlyFans’ free-to-view platform OFTV, in the competition series Race of Wits.
The eight-episode series, hosted by British internet personality Emily Black, sees teams of two OnlyFans creators take on three fast-paced, London-based challenges in an attempt to win a cash prize and boast about outsmarting the competition.
From completing missions in iconic London locations to solving a series of clues in the Puzzle Room, each episode will test the participants’ speed, creativity and problem-solving skills.
Sarah said of reuniting with James for the show: “So nice, it was really fun. Because when you’re working and you’re not in scenes with someone on a soap opera, you usually only see him in the green room at lunch or break.
“Because it wasn’t anything serious, it was nice to just go in and be ourselves. We weren’t learning scripts or playing characters or anything like that. It wasn’t anything heavy at all.
‘It was wonderful, we had so much fun. And actually, I think if you watch the episode, you’ll see that we have really good chemistry between us, since we’ve never really hung out together. It worked very well.’
The first episode of Race of Wits can be streamed on OFTV. The Sarah and James episode will be released on Tuesday, September 1.
