A 57-year-old model claims she was shunned after her local community found nude photos of her online.
Midwestern mother of one Elaina St James has spent the past three years sharing racy snapshots of herself with others in an effort to give her teenage son a better life.
But the well-intentioned plan initially backfired, as her career became the biggest gossip in the town where she grew up, which has a population of just 10,000.
The content creator said friends, neighbors and even strangers avoided her on the street or refused to talk to her, and she also claimed people at her son’s school turned against her.
Perhaps even more shocking, once they saw her financial success, these same people soon cornered Elaina in public, begging her for tips on how to follow in her footsteps. The model was then earning tens of thousands of dollars a month.
Mother of one Elaina St James, from the US Midwest, claimed she was ostracised after her local community found nude photos of her online
“When I started this, I expected to lose a few people, but I never expected our community to overshadow us,” said Elaina, who has 400,000 followers on Instagram.
‘I felt like Frankenstein with the people of the city holding pitchforks. I would say hello to people on the street and they would turn away from me – it was crazy.
‘Most of the single – and some married – women in that city have had more sexual partners than I have in recent years.
‘For a while I only left the house to go to the store. I just couldn’t stand the constant stares.’
According to Elaina, there was also a clear double standard: many people publicly disagreed with her career, but privately approached her for advice.
She said, “The same people who judged me were the ones who greeted me on the street or talked to me in the shops.
‘It’s ridiculous that what I do online in this day and age can cause me to be shunned so brutally.
‘There was so much hostility and condemnation, but on the other hand some mothers started asking me for help.
The mother had been sharing racy photos of herself for the past three years to give her teenage son a better life
The content creator said friends, neighbors and even strangers avoided her on the street or refused to talk to her, and she claimed people at her son’s school also turned against her
Elaina described the small town where she grew up in the Midwest of the US as one with ‘old-fashioned values’
Seeing that the public was hungry for ‘mom bod’ content, Elaina decided to create a racy account
In order to provide her son with a financially secure future, the mother decided to become an adult model in 2021
‘They wanted me to coach them so that they too could earn thousands of dollars a month this way.
‘When no one else was around, women would approach me and ask if we could meet up sometime so they could gauge my thoughts.
‘I was so shocked when it first happened. One person even tried to kill my teenage son.
“She told him she wanted to contact me to talk about my business and gave him her phone number. I was shocked.”
Elaina described the small Midwestern town where she grew up as one with “old-fashioned values.”
When she had her son 15 years ago, it initially felt like a safe place to return to.
For most of that time she worked for local businesses and was deeply rooted in the community.
In order to provide her son with a financially secure future, the mother decided to become an adult model in 2021. She noticed that the audience was interested in content about ‘mom bod’.
After years of struggling to make ends meet as a single mother and facing the prospect of never being able to retire, Elaina was thrilled when her account took off
Elaina now earns an average of $30,000 per month, and even earns $50,000 in particularly fertile months
Being able to set her own hours also gave her the freedom to volunteer and participate in local events.
Elaina was candid with her son about what she did and says he “played dumb” when the news reached the classrooms and his friends started teasing him about it
Elaina and her son have moved to a more urban area further south, where she feels she can relax and keep a low profile
After struggling to make ends meet for years as a single mother and facing the prospect of never being able to retire, Elaina was thrilled when her account became so popular.
She said: ‘For the first time, I didn’t have to check my bank account every time I went to the supermarket.
“I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to retire. I had financial stability that I had never had before, and I gave my son a better life.”
Elaina now earns an average of $30,000 per month, and in particularly fertile months she even earns $50,000.
She says that caring for her son and having a flexible working pattern so she can spend enough time with him are her driving force.
Setting her own hours also meant she had the freedom to volunteer and participate in local events. But that all changed when her online work became known.
Elaina said: ‘I heard from a friend who worked at the school that there were rumours going around about what I was doing.
‘Either a father or a teacher discovered my photos online. From that point on, I noticed that some of my son’s teachers became almost hostile towards me.
‘Small issues were blown out of proportion and I was given the cold shoulder for no reason. People went from friendly to cold, almost overnight.’
The rumor spread like wildfire. Fortunately, Elaina had been open with her son about what she did and says he “played dumb” when the news reached the classrooms and friends started teasing him about it.
She said: ‘He was absolutely bullied by it. It was heartbreaking. I got used to keeping my head down and not saying hello to anyone when I left the house.’
Elaina and her son have since moved to a more urban area further south, where she can relax and be less in the spotlight.
Elaina’s son wishes she could achieve this level of success by doing something else, but he understands that they now have financial security
Elaina said she doesn’t spend money on ‘expensive handbags and shoes’ – but saves it for her son’s future
She said, “We are very happy here. My son has handled everything very well.
‘He wanted to finish the school year in our old town, which we did, but he’s happy to be starting in a new place.
‘He wishes I could achieve this level of success by doing something else, but he understands that we now have financial security and can travel, buy a nicer house and not worry about every penny.
“It’s terrible that he lost friends because of this, and that we lost the community we both grew up in.
‘But amazingly enough, he doesn’t disagree with me. He tells me all the time that I’m the best mother in the world.
“My son is my motivation for everything. If I wasn’t a mother, I wouldn’t have cared if I lived a modest life and didn’t have enough.
‘But as a single parent, it’s not all about me now. I don’t spend money on expensive handbags and shoes – I save it for his and my future, or travel to enrich my son’s life.
“Although I have spent most of my life in that city, I have no plans to ever return. Both me and my son feel like a fresh start.”