If you were a certain age in 2003, you remember Rivkeh Reyes as Katie, the quiet cellist who picked up a bass guitar and held her own alongside Jack Black in School of Rock. Reyes was nine years old when the movie came out. They are 33 now, making adult content on OnlyFans, and they’d like you to know that they’re also releasing music. (Note: the character used she/her pronouns, while the actor Reyes prefers she/they.)
The moment came via TikTok this week, with a video of Reyes staring into space while a viral TikTok sound of saxophones build in the background and the text overlay reads: “Being a former child actor means realizing why my Oh Eff does so well.” They followed it up in the comments with a request: “Would LOVE for y’all to support and check out my music so that I can quit doing the other thing.”
This isn’t the scandal some people are making it out to be. They are simply a person with bills to pay and a fledgling music career that hasn’t taken off. Reyes’ OnlyFans mixes explicit adult content with lifestyle posts, behind-the-scenes-updates, and early access to their “sapphic bubblegrunge” music. It is like tons of other OnlyFans: a subscription fan platform that happens to include adult content.
The trajectory from child stardom to OnlyFans is becoming familiar enough that it barely registers as a story anymore, except that it keeps happening and nobody wants to talk about what’s underneath it. Reyes has been open about what followed School of Rock, including bullying from classmates so severe they described it as being followed around school with people chanting at them. They also battled addiction and “a lot of demons,” as they described in a 2021 interview with the New York Post. The film that made them famous at nine years old also made their adolescence extremely difficult, and the industry that benefited from their work at nine years old was not particularly interested in what happened to them after.
Reyes story isn’t unique. Amanda Bynes is doing something similar on the platform, though she’s bringing a decidedly different energy. The former Nickelodeon star who was a genuine late-90s and early 2000s cultural fixture announced her OnlyFans account last year, though she was upfront about what you’d get: “I’m doing OnlyFans to chat with my fans through DMs. I won’t be posting any sleazy content.”
While her account is still active, she’s lowered the price from the original $50 a month down to $20 a month and only has one active post that you must pay to see. She really does seem to want to use the account more for conversation than content, and who could blame her? Unlike Reyes, Bynes was in several well-known movies and television shows before retiring from acting at the age of 24. Both actors have struggled with addiction, but Bynes’s struggle was more public. She had multiple run-ins with law enforcement, psychiatric holds, and even a conservatorship that lasted nearly ten years before being terminated in 2022. Since then she’s tried podcasting, attempted to build a manicurist career, and participated in a pop-art show with designer Austin Babbitt.
What connects these two stories isn’t just the platform; it’s the pattern. The entertainment industry extracts significant value from children and young people, provides limited long-term support, and then sends the kids off to figure out adulthood with whatever resources and fame they managed to accumulate. For some, the fame was a launching pad to success. But for the rest, it’s a weight they carry that they may never get out from under.
OnlyFans often becomes a place where these actors can connect with long-time fans and bring in a direct income that other outlets don’t offer. It’s no wonder it’s often a lifeline for child actors with few other opportunities.