Jessie Cave spent years working in movies, television and comedy after landing a memorable role in the Harry Potter franchise — but she says none of it came close to the money she made after joining OnlyFans.
The 39-year-old actress, best known for playing Lavender Brown in the final three Harry Potter movies, has revealed that her unusual side hustle became a financial lifeline after she reached what she described as a point of “complete desperation.”
And according to Cave, she made more money on the subscription platform in just one year than she earned during her entire acting career.
Cave joined OnlyFans in March 2025 as bills piled up and childcare costs made traditional work increasingly difficult.
She told The Times that taking an ordinary job wasn’t as simple as it might sound.
“I couldn’t go and, say, work in a supermarket because I can’t afford the childcare, and also I don’t want people shouting Harry Potter spells at me as I work at Tesco,” Cave said in an interview published Aug. 7.
She said retraining for another career was financially out of reach as well.
“I could retrain but I can’t afford to do a degree,” she explained. “I had a breakdown and I thought, that’s it with acting, I give up. But also we have no money. It was a point of complete desperation.”
That desperation eventually led Cave to OnlyFans — although her content looks very different from what many people typically associate with the platform.
Instead of posting explicit material, Cave built her page around one very specific attraction: her long hair.
Videos reportedly feature the actress brushing, touching and playing with her hair while wearing various costumes, including an elf, a maid and even outfits inspired by her Harry Potter days.
“My rule is the hair is the main character. That’s how I justify it,” Cave said.
“It’s literally about hair: the texture of hair. The fetish. It’s very, very niche.”
Cave originally believed the experiment would be brief.
“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 said.
Instead, the money began pouring in.
Cave said she earned more than $20,200 on her very first day.
Although some subscribers eventually disappeared after realizing she would not be posting explicit material, Cave said enough remained to turn her unconventional business into a major source of income.
“It’s now been over a year and a half and it’s genuinely saved our lives,” she said.
The difference between her earnings as an actress and her OnlyFans income has apparently been staggering.
“I’ve earned more, easily, than my entire acting career within one year,” Cave revealed.
She even suggested the subscription model could become increasingly common as social media users realize they could charge money for content they currently give away for free.
“I see people on Instagram posting bikini shots or s— stuff and I think, you could be charging for this! You’re losing money!” Cave said. “I see that being the future. Everyone will be paying for everything.”
For Cave, however, the appeal apparently wasn’t entirely financial.
The actress and mother of four said years of dressing conservatively and being viewed as the quirky Harry Potter actress had left her feeling overlooked.
“It is about wanting some kind of gaze,” she admitted.
“I wear baggy T-shirts on stage, I’ve never posted a bikini shot, I wear huge glasses. For so long I’ve just been this quirky figure.”
She added: “After having four kids and feeling invisible for so long, that was really appealing to me.”
But Cave’s new career has apparently come with at least one major Harry Potter-related consequence.
In September 2025, she claimed she had been turned away from appearing at a Harry Potter convention because organizers considered OnlyFans inappropriate for a family-oriented event.
“They explained it was because it’s a ‘family show and OnlyFans is affiliated with p—,’” Cave wrote on Substack at the time.
She said the decision confused her because her own page contains nothing sexually explicit.
“This was baffling to me as some actors who do conventions — most actors, actually — have done TV and films in which they’ve done s– scenes and nudity,” she wrote. “I’m just playing with my hair!”
Still, Cave insisted she wasn’t devastated about potentially leaving the convention circuit behind.
“I am not upset about the prospect of no more Harry Potter conventions,” she said. “There’s going to be a new cast now and it’s a different time.”
After more than 15 years of attending Potter-related events, Cave joked that she already has more than enough photographs and wizard memorabilia.
And while her path from Hogwarts to OnlyFans certainly wasn’t one she expected, Cave says the unlikely career move ultimately provided something acting had struggled to give her: financial security.
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