ST. CLAIR — A high school English teacher has been placed on leave after the St. Clair School District discovered she performs on the pornography website OnlyFans.
The 28-year-old teacher at St. Clair High School, Brianna Coppage, said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch that she was put on leave on Wednesday after being interviewed by two administrators. Her access to school email and other software has been revoked while the district investigates, she said.
“It was kind of always like this cloud hanging over my head, like I never knew when I would be discovered,” Coppage said. “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.”
St. Clair is in Franklin County, about 55 miles southwest of St. Louis.
The school superintendent, Kyle Kruse, said in a statement that the district was “recently notified that an employee may have posted inappropriate media on one or more internet sites.”
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“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 direct-to-subscribers website OnlyFans over the summer to supplement her teaching salary.
She taught English to freshmen and sophomores and made about $42,000 last year, according to the Post-Dispatch public pay database. She said she’s earned an additional $8,000 to $10,000 per month performing on OnlyFans.
Coppage said she chose the site because its content is available only to subscribers and she thought it would help protect her identity.
She doesn’t know who notified the school district of her account, but she suspects it was after she and her husband appeared in a recent video alongside two other OnlyFans performers in St. Louis who have a substantial following.
“(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 said. “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.”
Coppage insisted no content was filmed or posted while she was on school grounds.
“That was like my completely, separate personal life outside of teaching,” Coppage said.
Coppage, who grew up in nearby Sullivan, began teaching in 2018 after graduating from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She previously worked as an academic adviser at the Missouri University of Science & Technology in Rolla. She was in her second year of teaching at St. Clair High School, which has about 750 students.
She said the joy of teaching was forging relationships with students and sharing in milestones like driver’s licenses, passing significant tests and birthdays.
“There is this expectation that teachers should be the moral leaders of students, and I do not disagree with that,” Coppage said. “I taught the curriculum. I taught students reading and writing, and I didn’t guide them on my thoughts or beliefs. … And I can’t control what people think of me. I just know that who I am as a person, I’m not doing anything illegal. I am a good friend. I am a good family member. That is all I can think about right now.”
OnlyFans, a website that launched in 2016, boasts more than 210 million paid subscribers worldwide and more than 2.1 million content creators. It has garnered significant attention as teachers, judges, lawyers, police officers and other professionals have created content on the site to bolster their incomes.
Creators charge anywhere from $3 to $75 for a monthly subscription, with some users paying more for custom and pay-per-view content.
Coppage said she was introduced to OnlyFans by St. Louis friends who are content creators on the site.
Since the news of her OnlyFans account began to surface, Coppage said, her account has gained about 100 new subscribers and she has more than doubled her subscription price. She plans to continue posting on the site.
She and her husband — who is not facing disciplinary action with his employer — do not plan to move from their home. She also recognizes she will likely garner attention when she goes about her daily life.
“I do not regret joining OnlyFans. I know it can be taboo, or some people may believe that it is shameful, but I don’t think sex work has to be shameful,” Coppage said. “I do just wish things just happened in a different way.”
Photographs from St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff and freelancers for the week beginning Sept. 17, 2023. Video by Beth O'Malley
