For many growing up in the Noughties, Skins proved to be a pioneering television show – depicting the antics of adolescents as they experimented with drugs, sex and partying.
The E4 show catapulted the cast to stardom, yet many have spoken out about their treatment on the show, with its young actors claiming they felt ‘unprotected’ on set.
Now Megan Prescott has revealed that it was her work on Skins that inspired her to join X-rated subscription site OnlyFans, telling Daily Mail that given her sex scenes from the show were already circulating online, it made sense to monetise on her sexuality.
The actress, 34, joined the show at the age of 16 when she and her twin sister Kathryn landed the roles of Katie and Emily Finch.
While she went on to land more acting roles, with money tight and odd jobs not proving fruitful enough, she ended up entering the sex industry – first working as a stripper before creating her own racy content on OnlyFans.
Explaining how her work in the adult industry different from her acting career, she mused: ‘The difference is control. With OnlyFans I can choose what I want to do. I never felt pressured to do any more than I had to.’
Former child star Megan Prescott has revealed becoming a sex worker was a ‘privilege’ and that stripping saw her regain ‘control’ after working on controversial drama Skins
The Skins cast are pictured in 2008 L-R Ollie Barberi, Lisa Backwell, twins, Kathryn and Megan Prescott, Luke Pasqualino, Merveille Lokeba and Lily Loveless
Megan continued: ‘I learned my boundaries more in sex work than I ever did in acting – I learned what I am comfortable with, what I’m not comfortable with.
‘I also learned the value of my creative labour, which was a lot more than I was being paid in acting.’
Megan – who landed her first acting role at the age of 14 – also had roles in Silent Witness, Holby City and several short films.
Yet the fickle industry meant her finances were unstable and she began working as a stripper at the age of 22 to support her while she auditioned.
Megan then joined OnlyFans in 2020 while she was working in a distillery in London on a zero-hour contract and her manager ‘refused to furlough her for a while’.
With only £300 in her bank account and no way to pay her rent, her friend Heaven – who co-hosts the podcast Strippers In The Attic – suggested OnlyFans as a way of earning an income.
Megan explained: ‘She was saying to me, “look there is already enough footage of you in like sexy content on the internet from Skins, but you’re just not making any money off of it anymore!”‘
In agreeance with her friend, Megan signed up for the site – where she sells full frontal naked photographs – and is a vocal ally of sex workers.
Megan joined OnlyFans in 2020 while she was working in a distillery in London on a zero-hour contract and her manager ‘refused to furlough her for a while’
Yet she confessed she was initially ‘terrified’ about making the move, fearing that it could stop her from landing certain roles down the line.
‘But in my eyes, I’d been really giving my everything to trying to make it as an actor and a writer for nearly a decade, and it just wasn’t happening,’ she continued.
‘And I see sex work as performance. It’s just another type of performative labour.’
Megan also pointed out the similarities between acting and the sex industry, stating: ‘There is so much in TV – we see how many actors do like nude scenes, sex scenes.
‘There’s loads of stuff in acting that is similar in sex work, but there’s still such a huge stigma about sex work.
‘I think if we are going to get anywhere with women’s rights and women having bodily autonomy, we have to agree that women can do what they choose to do with their body.’
On how sex work proved to be a ‘lifeline’ during her time in need, she continued: ‘Honestly it it changed my life.
‘Sex work has always been a bit of a lifeline to me when I had needed it to be – when I was younger I was stripping – I’m just so glad that I had the privilege of being able to do that.’
The financial benefits were also undeniable, with Megan revealing she could earn more money in two shifts as a stripper than she could working for a month as a security guard.
The actress, 34, soared to fame at the age of 16 when she and her twin sister Kathryn landed the roles of Katie and Emily Finch on E4 drama Skins
Megan also weight in on her experience on E4 drama Skins – which has come under fire in recent years from various stars.
Asked whether she agreed with the critisims, Megan mused: ‘It’s a difficult one.
‘Most things that I’ve achieved now wouldn’t wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Skins. I didn’t go to university and I didn’t go to drama school, so really it was the stepping stone that I couldn’t have done any of these things with.
‘There could have been more care taken, but I I think we can’t scapegoat individual people, programmes or workplaces.
‘I think if you looked at any show of that time, and maybe now still, there will be an element of things that people are doing that they aren’t really comfortable with because they really want to make it in that industry.
‘We have to remember is it was a show that everybody loved, and I would have done anything to be on the show. I was really grateful that they gave me the part.
‘But yeah, I look back and could we have been looked after a little bit more? But again, I’m at odds with it because it’s still the best thing that’s happened in my career.
‘I think two things can exist at once.’
Megan pointed out the similarities between acting and the sex industry, stating: ‘There is so much in TV – we see how many actors do like nude scenes, sex scenes’
Now, Megan is channelling her experience in the acting and sex work industry in her new one-woman show: Really Good Exposure.
Megan stars as Molly in the show – which will debut in London next week after an award-winning run at Edinburgh Fringe last year.
She portrays a child star who is considering getting into the porn industry after being dumped by her agent because she was caught working in a strip club.
Describing the plot as ‘Slumdog Millionaire but with a pornstar’, she mused: ‘It’s a semi autobiographical play.
‘I took a lot of elements that happened to me in my real life, a lot of popular culture stories from especially the the 90s and early Noughties. And I like distilled them all down into one character and one story.’
Megan continued: ‘The themes are all themes that I’ve experienced throughout my life. I’ve worked in the adult industries and I’ve also worked in entertainment for as long as I can remember.
I wanted to write a show that used some of my life experience, but I didn’t want it to exclude a lot of people.
‘The sex industry and the acting industry are not something that a lot of people have experienced, but a lot of women, particularly millennial women, have come out of the show and said I really related to a lot of that.
‘I wanted to use some of my stories as a like a starting off point for something that could appeal to a much wider audience and they could relate to.’
On how sex work proved to be a ‘lifeline’ during her time in need, she said: ‘Honestly it it changed my life. I’m just so glad that I had the privilege of being able to do that’
On how it felt to show a more ‘vulnerable’ side to the audience, Megan laughed: ‘I am quite literally putting myself out there. I am exposed naked on stage and it is quite a vulnerable thing to do.
‘But I do think that you get something in theatre that you don’t get when you’re watching a screen. And I thought, I’m going to do it properly and do it honestly.’
She revealed that she hopes those who attend her show leave with a different viewpoint and more understanding of the sex work industry.
Megan explained: ‘It’s quite a hard thing to get people on board with because of how much stigma there is around sex work.
Me coming out and being like, “we should decriminalise sex work and we should make it safer”, people are a bit like “ohh, but the safety of women…”
‘And your heart is in the absolute right place, but talk to sex workers and look at the industry and look at some of the parallels in other industries.’
Megan continued: ‘I would love people to watch the show, see how the character in the show is treated in both industries [acting and sex work] and leave with questions and with a bit more of an open mind than they did before.
‘I know people don’t think it does, but sex workers rights are integral to to women’s rights.’
Megan is channelling her experience in the acting and sex work industry in her new one-woman show: Really Good Exposure. Tickets are available online
Megan also continues to campaign for the safety and rights of sex workers as a chair of the board of Ugly Mugs (NUM) a pioneering, national organisation that provides greater access to justice and protection for sex workers.
‘Sex workers don’t get half of the support that they should get,’ she explained.
‘A lot of organisations are like, “we’ll help you leave, but we’re not helping you stay safe while you’re in the industry.” It sucks.
‘I think if there wasn’t such a stigmatisation against sex work we would be able to keep more women safe.’
While Megan is immersed in the sex industry, she explained she hasn’t turned her back on acting and plans to pursue more roles in the future.
Not, however, at the detriment of giving up her OnlyFans account.
‘It’s been the most freeing thing I’ve ever done,’ she explained.
You can watch Megan’s show, Really Good Exposure, at London’s Soho Theatre from September 2 to September 13.
Tickets are available at https://sohotheatre.com/dean-street/
