When actor Dan Benson was working on the Disney Channel show "Wizards of Waverly Place," he would often receive nude photos of women.
In exchange, he would send back nudes of his own, he said over the weekend. However, without his consent, the explicit photos he sent would end up plastered across the internet.
"That was a pretty traumatic experience," Benson, 35, said in a video posted on his TikTok earlier where he talked about how he "tripped and fell" into doing adult entertainment.
"And for years I went about trying to get rid of them, get them off the internet, because obviously I did not want them out there," he said.
Benson — who was in his early 20s from 2007 to 2012 when the show was in production — said the photos almost caused him to lose his job. He was essentially forced into retirement from acting.
On "Wizards of Waverly Place," which starred Selena Gomez, he played Zeke Beakerman, a geeky-yet-cool nerd who was a recurring character during the four-season run of the show.
After the show wrapped in 2012, Benson saw little work, landing minor parts in small TV shows and indie films. His most notable role allowed him to not show his face at all: He was voice acting in three episodes of the animated series "Rick and Morty."
But since then, Benson said, he decided to stop "fighting against [the rogue nudes] and instead go the other direction and completely lean into it."
Last year, Benson started an OnlyFans page, where he sells subscription access to nude photos and videos of himself.
"Instead of letting these people sell my privacy ... I decided to say 'Screw you, I'm gonna sell it myself instead,'" he said. "It changed my life for the better."
Benson joins Bella Thorne and Maitland Ward on the list of formerly family-friendly actors who have joined the adult entertainment industry.
Thorne starred alongside Zendaya in Disney's "Shake It Up." from 2010 to 2013. In 2019, she directed an adult film for the porn site Pornhub. She also has an OnlyFans page that earns millions.
Ward starred in the final two seasons of ABC's "Boy Meets World," after the network merged with Disney. The series eventually found syndication on the Disney Channel. Ward claimed in a New York Post op-ed that the show's mostly male producers had her try on lingerie in front of them. She has since become a successful adult film performer, nabbing dozens of awards.
"Wearing no clothes on your own terms is a lot different from being naked for someone else," wrote Ward, who also has an OnlyFans presence.
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