Layla Kelly was a banking consultant for over seven years when she had a baby and went on maternity leave. Despite making $65,000 a year, she was living paycheck to paycheck even before her baby was born. The new mom worried about how she would handle the work-life balance when she went back to work — and how she would make ends meet if she didn’t.
That’s when her husband had a rather unique suggestion.
Kelly shared in an interview: “I was on maternity leave and didn’t want to go back to my job in finance, he suggested starting OnlyFans or something similar since he knew I was already very comfortable in my own skin.”
It seems like the 34-year-old was indeed comfortable in her own skin and more than ready to take centerstage. Since starting her account, the New Zealand mother now makes $250,000 a year and has been judged as New Zealand’s Best Porn Star in 2023 and 2024.
Kelly is proud of her decision: “I am a mom and I’m the boss. I wanted the freedom of choosing what I do and the ability to control what I earn. I am comfortable with myself and confident with my body. Originally, I wanted to cover $300 a week for bills but I’ve blown that out of the water. Last year, I earned $250,000.”
Her husband is comfortable with her career as well, even helping film and edit the content. Kelly describes him as fully supportive: “My husband enjoys watching me be pleasured, especially by random men, he gets pleasure from that so he is definitely not jealous but more excited. We always discuss before we do anything new, then make sure to have a de-brief afterwards.”
She added: “Sometimes you don’t know how you will feel until the deed has been done and chatting afterwards means that we can make sure that everyone is comfortable with the same thing happening again or discuss if we need to change anything.”
Of course, there are some downsides to the career. Kelly struggled to find a bank that would finance a home loan for her, despite her increase in income. Before leaving her banking career, even the idea of owning a home wasn’t possible.
“I didn’t even think buying a house was possible on my banking wage. The cost of living in New Zealand is really high, so even when you’re being paid what is supposed to be a liveable wage, it doesn’t feel that way anymore.”
While she did have a bank refuse to assess her loan application due to her affiliation with the porn industry, she did manage to secure a loan and buy a home.
Kelly explained: “We had an incredible broker who went out to bat for us, and most banks were great, but there was one that wouldn’t assess our application because of the industry I’m in.”
For Kelly, the benefits clearly outweigh the consequences of a career in the adult content industry.