“Selling sexy pictures saved my life”
A mystery illness left Rachael Huckle living in agony for years – until she began modelling for fans and used her £4k-a-month earnings to pay for treatment
❛ I’M HAPPY TO GO TOPLESS BUT NEVER FULLY NAKED – I KNOW MY BOUNDARIES ❜
When Rachael Huckle puts on her sexiest underwear and poses for her fans, it’s not only helping to boost her bank balance, but more importantly, her health, too. The former legal secretary had been left in agony for years after suffering from a mystery autoimmune disease that attacked her body and had NHS doctors baffled.
But after selling saucy photos online, she was able to afford private consultations and has now discovered the cause of her issues, leaving her pain-free for the first time since she was a child.
Rachael, 34, who lives in Wrexham with her family, says, “I could never have imagined that posing for sexy pictures could not only change my life, but save it. The money I made from selling pictures via the OnlyFans site has helped me get professional help.
WEAK
“I’ve been suffering from health problems for years, all linked to my weak immune system. Numerous doctors told me that if I got an infection, it could prove fatal.
“There have been countless days when I could barely move from the sofa as I was so weak. My throat was so blistered that I couldn’t eat – I survived on a liquid diet. I weighed just 7st and size 8 clothes swamped me. I was ready to give up, but now I feel like a different person.”
Rachael’s health problems started when she was just nine years old. She’d been on holiday with her grandparents in Spain, when after jumping into a swimming pool she caught a parasitic bug – cryptosporidium – from the water. She was violently sick for a month and her health has suffered ever since.
She says, “I don’t know if it triggered my illnesses, or if I had immune problems anyway, but since then I’ve been in and out of hospital.
“I had kidney infections, couldn’t swallow food, had joint pain and severe exhaustion. But doctors couldn’t get to the bottom of what was wrong with me. I hardly went to school, as I was always too ill. I was miserable and terrified of dying.”
And sadly, as Rachael got older, she continued to suffer – and her ill health meant that she had to leave her job as a legal secretary.
She says, “I had different issues, including colitis, which is an inflammation in the bowel. I suffered so severely with it that I would bleed profusely, and it left me anaemic, with no energy.
“I also had angioedema – an allergic reaction but with no cause – which caused my lips to swell and my throat to close, leaving me unable to swallow. I was desperate for a cure and doctors prescribed me drugs, but they didn’t work.”
X-RATED
On the rare occasions when she did feel well, Rachel did some modelling, after a friend suggested it to her.
She says, “The other model was called Rachael too, so they called me Ivy, as I was wearing a [DC Comics character] Poison Ivy costume – and that’s where my alter ego ‘Ivy’ was born.”
She enjoyed modelling so much that soon after, in 2019, Rachael created an account on X-rated website OnlyFans, under the name Ivy, and began posting pictures of herself in underwear.
She says, “I couldn’t get another office job, as I wasn’t well enough, and I’d heard that you could make a decent living by doing [OnlyFans].”
Rachael gradually built up her base of subscribers and now has hundreds, all paying her £7.50 a month. She also spends hours chatting to them online.
She says, “I had plenty of time, as I rarely left the house. And my family are supportive and love seeing me happy.
“It’s amazing how friendly and supportive some of my subscribers are, especially with my illness, which I’m very open about. We chat lots – I even know the names of their children!”
But while Rachael has had a positive experience with OnlyFans, some experts are concerned that the phenomenon could be detrimental to women’s wellbeing – users may feel under pressure to post increasingly graphic content, and become reliant on their fans’ validation for their self-esteem. Privacy is a concern, too. In February 2020, around 1.5 terabytes-worth of adult content – the equivalent of around 3 million photos – was leaked online.
POSITIVE
But Rachael insists the site is a positive place. She says, “I take requests for outfits, and a few of my subscribers even send me things they want me to wear, like a sexy bunny outfit.
“But I have very firm limits. I’m happy to do topless, but never fully naked. I know my boundaries. I’m mentally strong, and if I’m uncomfortable with something, I won’t do it. OnlyFans has actually helped me grow in confidence.”
Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, Rachael
received a letter advising that she shield. She says, “If I had caught coronavirus, it would have been deadly for me. My weak immune system wouldn’t have been able to fight it. It was so scary.”
SPECIALIST
With even more time on her hands, Rachael continued uploading pictures to her OnlyFans page – and began earning up to £4,000 a month.
And fed up with feeling so ill, she decided to put the money to good use, and in June last year, went to see a private doctor.
She says, “I started getting blisters in my throat and at the back of my nose. I had no energy and felt so low. I’d seen various NHS doctors and been on and off different medicines, but nothing had worked.
“Before selling my pictures, there was no way I could have even thought about going private. But I was earning so much, I was in a privileged position where I could.”
Rachael paid £1,000 and after several tests, a private specialist finally diagnosed pemphigus – an autoimmune disease – and prescribed her steroids.
Since then, Rachael has felt much better. She says, “My private doctor has an NHS clinic, so now I visit every three months to check my condition and review my medication. I am so thankful.
“Selling pictures is something I’d never have imagined myself doing – but I love it. I’ve got a diagnosis and am managing my condition for the first time. I’m no longer worried about dying and am excited for the future.
“I still have flare-ups but, on the whole, I feel like a different person. It’s not only turned my life around, but saved it, and it’s all thanks to selling sexy pics!
“Without earning money to pay for private treatment, I’d never have been able to manage my condition, and I could have died from an infection that most people would recover from.
“Little things like going to a bar with friends or a restaurant with my family, I haven’t been able to do before. So, I’m so excited for lockdown restrictions to ease – now I feel like I can finally start living.”