OnlyFans Teacher Brianna Coppage: Student Loan Debt Drove Me to Porn Career (Exclusive)

It was a case of don't quit your side hustle for Missouri teacher Brianna Coppage — for reasons that may well resonate with over 40 million Americans.

Student loan debt combined with other mounting bills drove the high school English teacher to make a "financially driven" decision to quit the classroom and keep her off-hours OnlyFans gig after school administrators discovered her sex work job, Coppage told The Messenger.

"As a teacher, I don't know if I ever would have been able to pay them off," she said of loans she received to pay for bachelor's and master's degrees as well as a specialist degree she was working on.

"Two degrees comes with a lot of student debt," Coppage, 28, added. “Everything is expensive right now and the state of teacher pay in Missouri is almost last in the United States.”

Coppage earned about $42,000 last year teaching — and another $8,000 each month thanks to her OnlyFans subscribers, she said. 

Missouri ranks 47th in the nation for average teacher salaries and is dead last for average teacher starting salary, according to the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union.

Student loan payments restart this month after borrowers were given a three-year pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Nearly 17% of teachers in the U.S. work second jobs outside their school system to supplement their income, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Coppage taught English to freshmen and sophomores at St. Clair High School, about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis, until she was suspended last week after the school district that employed her was notified of her OnlyFans account.

Having your face and your name plastered all around the world doesn't come with, I guess, a good image for a school to want to hire you.

She began posting adult content on the platform over the summer to boost her income, but never expected anyone from her day job to discover the page because her content can only be accessed if you’re a paying subscriber, she said.

She decided on OnlyFans after hearing people talk about how much they earned on TikTok and other social media platforms. 

"I just thought, 'Hey, this might end up helping with some bills or with getting extra money,'" she said.

Coppage said her husband has been "really supportive" of her decision to start an OnlyFans account.

"It was definitely something that we decided on together," she said, adding that he has stood by her side throughout the ordeal with St. Clair High School.

Teachers made 26% less than other college graduates in 2022, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for Economic and Policy Research — and the gap is growing.

While she loved her teaching career, Coppage said she's done with the profession. 

“It's just not really an option for me anymore," she explained. "Having your face and your name plastered all around the world doesn't come with, I guess, a good image for a school to want to hire you."

Coppage now plans to focus on her OnlyFans account and lean into the online space — both to make more money and because, she said, she enjoys the work.

Her income has increased significantly since she was outed, she said, thanks to several thousand new subscribers.