Megan Barton Hanson: ‘Men Will Say Vile Things To Me Because I’ve Got An OnlyFans’

The Love Island star speaks to Grazia about OnlyFans, body confidence and why she's feeling happier than ever after lockdown.

MEGAN BARTON-HANSON EX IN THE CITY

by Bonnie McLaren |
Updated on

2020 has been a weird year - but, without a doubt, one of the wildest celebrity news stories happened last month when Scott Disick berated Megan Barton Hanson for the way she treated Eyal Booker on Love Island. In 2018. Catch up, Scott!

In the bizarre DM, Scott - aka Lord Disick - wrote: 'I was recently introduced to a beautiful man, named Eyal, when I went to see what he's done on TV, I was astonished by your behaviour.

'To find you mugging him off and taking full advantage of his unbelievably beautiful sense of humour and vulnerability – I'm extremely disturbed that anyone could be so disrespectful to somebody for no good reason. I would like to know if you'd be willing to write him an apology. The fact you told him he wasn't funny – when in fact, you are not Jim Carrey is absurd.'

While it is a very weird, if not random seeming DM, it started to make sense when you joined up the dots... Eyal is going out with Delilah Belle Hamlin, the older sister of Scott's 19-year-old girlfriend, Amelia.

It's hard not to see the funny side, and Megan laughs about it when she catches up with Grazia a week later over Zoom. 'That was very bizarre to say the least,' she says. 'Just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any weirder. The Lord slides in the DMs. I was like, "Oh, wow. Hello."'

Megan is chatting to Grazia just before she appears on the new version of Ex On The Beach - Ex In The City. Thanks to coronavirus restrictions, the MTV show has swapped the beach for, well, London. But don't worry, it's still going to have the same level of drama, with a Love Island-heavy cast of Amy Hart, Jess Gale and Michael Griffiths also joining Megan in facing their exes and the much feared Tablet of Terror.

With 1.7million Instagram followers and an appearance on Celebs Go Dating after Love Island, you probably wouldn't associate Megan with being hesitant when it comes to dating, but she didn't find filming the show easy. 'Initially, because it had been such a long while - filming was in between the first lockdown and the second - so even just the blind date itself was super nerve wracking,' Megan says. 'And I thought I was really confident when it came to dating. But even just talking to my date on their own, I was super nervous. And then when the Tablet Of Terror arrived and my ex walked in, I was literally was a bag of nerves. It was so bad. I wasn't the confident Megan everyone had seen before.'

The former lap dancer and glamour model - who split with ex Chelcee Grimes earlier this year - used her free time during lockdown to start working on OnlyFans again. And it's a decision which couldn't have gone better: she's now one of the highest earning celebrities on the website, rumoured to be pulling in hundreds of thousands of pounds a month.

'I started my OnlyFans at the beginning of the first lockdown because obviously coming from the sex industry and working on webcam and stuff, I knew every webcam girl is going to clean up right now,' she tells us. 'And I felt like such a hypocrite: I do so many talks and advocate for the sex industry. In one breath. I'm saying do what you want with your body - and then in the next breath, I'd stepped away from that platform purely because I'd been on Love Island.

'So I've got that back and it's the best thing I've done. I'm in like the top 10 of the celebrities in the world [on OnlyFans] which is phenomenal. And it's really a creative outlet for me. I get to style and create amazing shoots with amazing photographers.'

However, she says one of the downsides of returning to her former work is that she receives inappropriate - or abusive - DMs. 'I get a lot of like unsolicited [sexual messages], not even just dick pics - there are vile things men will say to me because I've got an OnlyFans that, in their head, gives them gives them permission to speak to me in that kind of way. And I just don't tend to open them to be honest.' But she says it's 'more hurtful' when she gets derogatory messages from women. 'Just because that's what I choose to do with my body and it's what makes me feel liberated and empowered,' she says, sounding confused. 'I'm not saying everyone must go out and do that, but it's more hurtful from a woman because I just feel like what's her issue with me?'

But, luckily, there's been more pros than cons, as the reality star also says being back on the site has definitely made her more 'body confident' and that, as 'there's only so many Netflix series you can watch', she's started to become a fan of exercising which she says has been great for her mental health.

Another important lesson she tells us lockdown has taught her is that she isn't in a rush to find a partner. 'I'm just loving my own company really. I think before the first lockdown I was almost in a rush to meet someone,' she admits. 'I felt like I needed to have someone, but during both lockdowns I've bought my first property. I feel so independent and strong by myself so it's really taking the pressure for finding the one. I'm just doing me and I'm loving it.'

'I'm 26 now,' Megan adds, 'and it's not long until I'm 30. I think a lot of pressure is put on women to find someone and have kids and your clock's ticking to do all of this - but I feel like since lockdown I've really enjoyed my own company. It's made everybody slow down and reflect.'

While she might be very happy being single, Megan has picked up a crucial tip from virtual dating during the first lockdown: do your research. 'I've been FaceTime dating, but not giving too much away and really doing my research on the people that I know,' she said, speaking to us just before the second lockdown ended. 'Because with FaceTime dates you don't meet people's friends, you don't see them in their like social environments. Make sure that they're definitely single!'

Celeb Ex In The City premieres Tuesday December 8 at 9pm on MTV.

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