ST. CLAIR, Mo. — A Missouri high school teacher was placed on leave by school district officials last week after discovering she was producing sexually explicit content on OnlyFans, a site that contains pornographic material.
Brianna Coppage, 28, who taught at St. Clair High School southwest of St. Louis, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she was placed on administrative leave after being interviewed by two school officials on Sept. 27. Her access to school email and other software has been revoked while the district investigates, she told the newspaper.
“It was kind of always like this cloud hanging over my head, like I never knew when I would be discovered,” Coppage told the Post-Dispatch. “Then, about two weeks ago, my husband and I were told that people were finding out about it. So I knew this day was coming.”
— The Missourian (@Emissourian) September 29, 2023
St. Clair is located in Franklin County, about 55 miles southwest of St. Louis.
Kyle Kruse, superintendent of St. Clair R-XIII School District, wrote in a statement that the district was “recently notified that an employee may have posted inappropriate media on one or more internet sites.”
“The district has engaged legal counsel to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this matter,” Kruse wrote. “Actions taken as a result of the investigation will be in accordance with board policy and with guidance from legal counsel.”
Coppage said she joined the OnlyFans website, a subscription site that contains pornographic and other content, this summer to supplement her salary as a second-year teacher, CBS News reported.
She taught English to freshmen and sophomores and made about $42,000 last year, according to the Post-Dispatch’s public pay database. She said she has earned an additional $8,000 to $10,000 per month performing on OnlyFans, according to the newspaper.
“I really had two choices. One was to delete everything and hide from it, and my name was still going to be out there anyway,” Coppage told the Riverfront Times. “I knew that I wasn’t going to go back into education. So it was either run and hide, or lean into it. And at the end of the day, I still have bills to pay and I still have like a family to provide for. So it was not really a difficult choice to just lean in.”
Coppage told the news outlet that she charges a subscription fee of $10 a month and has nearly 1,500 followers. Her OnlyFans page has since been updated to reflect a monthly subscription of $20; there is a 5% discount for paying three months in advance ($57).
Coppage said she started the account and “didn’t expect much (out) of it at all.”
“I just knew some people that were doing it, and it was something that my husband and I agreed to do together,” she told The Missourian.
The material began performing well on the site, Coppage told the news outlet. OnlyFans allows Coppage and other creators the option to post content, pornographic or otherwise, on a subscription basis.
Coppage is using the teacher angle on her OnlyFans page, writing, “Yes ... I’m THAT teacher. Subscribe & let’s have some fun!!”
Coppage said she did not know who told school officials about her page on the website, the Post-Dispatch reported. She said that she and her husband appeared in a recent video with two other OnlyFans performers from St. Louis who have a large following, so that might have been how her non-teaching job was discovered.
“(The district says) they haven’t made a decision yet, but I’m just kind of putting the pieces together that I am not coming back,” Coppage told the newspaper. “I’m very aware that I am probably never going to teach again, but that was kind of the risk I knew I was taking. I am sad about that. I do miss my students.”
