So-called ‘sex challenges’ have been a hot topic recently, with Lily Phillips and Bonnie Blue making headlines and sparking debate across the globe.
But there’s one woman who has been watching the backlash with intrigue: 28-year-old blonde Aussie bombshell, Annie Knight.
If the name rings a bell, you might know her as the OnlyFans star who fled Fiji with 25-year-old Bonnie, after their plans to sleep with 18-year-old schoolies were foiled by the Fijian government.
Or, you may simply recognise her as ‘Australia’s most sexually active woman’.
Annie first started making OnlyFans content back in 2020, when she filmed herself performing sex acts, to earn money for a house. A year in, she was fired from her day job as a marketing coordinator after they discovered her explicit side hustle.
Now with a modus operandi similar to Bonnie, sex worker Annie, who is originally from Melbourne but lives on the Gold Coast, has sex with men and films it from their point of view, before posting the footage online. She has amassed a body count of 639 this year alone.
And, while the clip of Lily Phillips in tears after sleeping with 101 men in 14 hours shocked the internet, it didn’t surprise Annie. In fact, she compared Lily’s breakdown to a bad day at the office.
Annie tells Metro: ‘When I watched that clip of Lily crying and everyone was saying “oh my god, this poor girl”, I just thought, well, she’s been getting railed all day by 100 different guys… imagine putting your body through that.
‘Yes, it’s emotionally taxing, but isn’t that like any job? Everyone has moments where they’re like “I don’t know if I can do this anymore”. You do get really stressed.
‘She’d be exhausted, her body would be exhausted. When you’re tired, your emotions are high.
‘Some of the guys were really rude to her, and that’s upsetting,’ adds Annie. ‘It’s like any job when you’re under pressure and about to crack and you’ve got people yelling at you. Of course you’re going to cry.
‘The same goes for me when I have bad days. I have moments where I’m like, “I don’t want to do this today, but I have to”.’
But can you really compare a bad day at the office with blurring the lines of consent and feeling like you have to have sex because it’s your job?
Annie certainly thinks so, and cites Lily’s newest endeavour as proof: ‘After sleeping with 100 people in a day Lily could say, “I don’t want to do this 1000 people challenge anymore”, but she’s not, she’s still going to do it,’ she explains.
‘At the end of the day, she’s the one making the decision.’
So, who is Annie Knight?
In the four years she’s been on OnlyFans, Annie’s content has evolved from initially filming herself doing sex acts, to sleeping with men on camera.
She says that being fired from her job turned out to be a blessing in disguise: ‘At first I was quite angry because they were discriminating against me but I ended up being relieved because I hated the job,’ Annie recalls. ‘It felt like the universe was telling me to go to OnlyFans instead.’
Getting sacked hasn’t hurt her though, because the Aussie now earns a healthy $200,000 (£99,935) a month just from her content. Men send in an application to sleep with her and she takes her pick of the bunch.
The men she’s had sex with also include schoolies, dubbed by Bonnie Blue as ‘barely legal’ teens, year 12 graduates who go on a week-long partying holiday after school ends.
Like Bonnie Blue, Annie has also faced allegations for targeting young men, but argues, ‘How can I be a predator when I’m not preying on anyone?’
‘If I were preying on men, I’d be roaming the streets, finding an easy-to-manipulate man and trying to convince him to come home with me. That’s not what I’m doing.
‘I’m simply saying: “this is where I’m going to be; this is the service I am offering; come if you want,’” and the people who show up are coming willingly without any coercion.’
It’s not just critics who aren’t impressed with her career choice – Annie’s parents weren’t at first either. She’d been making sex content for a year-and-a-half before her mum found out after seeing news article on Facebook detailing how her daughter had been fired from her day job.
‘She was devastated, but only because I didn’t tell her the truth about the sex work,’ Annie explains. ‘So she didn’t speak to me for two weeks, then she finally rang me and told me she was worried about stalkers and my future.
‘My father found out when a reporter went to his house to ask about his “sex maniac daughter”. That was pretty shocking, he rang me at 7am asking what was going on.’
In time, Annie’s parents came around to the idea – especially when they saw how much money their daughter was earning – and said their only plea was that she made sure she was safe.
The darker side of OnlyFans work
At a glance, Annie’s OF operation is fairly secure. Men apply to sleep with her online, she picks out the people she feels comfortable with, messages them, then they set a date and time to meet at a hotel.
So far, she has slept with hundreds of men, including the likes of Australian football players, some reality TV stars and a ‘big time tennis player’.
All the guys she hooks up with need to provide a negative STI test and upon arrival they show their ID and fill out the relevant consent forms.
‘Then I speak about boundaries and what I’m not okay with, and of course I ask them if they have any,’ Annie explains. ‘It depends on the person but then we usually spend around 15 minutes filming.’
Annie’s boundaries include no anal, kissing or choking. The OnlyFans star will usually sleep with around five to 10 guys in a day so she can ‘have a break for the next couple of days’.
But, despite all this theoretical red tape, Annie has still found herself at risk. ‘Early on I was filming with this guy and he started choking me,’ Annie recalls.
‘I’d said not to, and kept saying “no, stop, stop” but he kept doing it. He was being super rough and I asked him to calm down, telling him it hurt. He wouldn’t stop.
‘I got to the point where I was genuinely so scared I managed to push him off me and told him to leave. He got super angry, so I just got my stuff and left. It was really scary.’
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
Throughout the year we will be bringing you stories that shine a light on the sheer scale of the epidemic.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to engage and empower our readers on the issue of violence against women.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].
Read more:
She adds: ‘It sucks and you wonder why someone would do that. It did shake me a bit because he seemed like a normal guy to begin with – no red flags. As much as I like to think I can pick them now, you never really know.’
Despite this harrowing encounter, Annie still feels that, for her, ‘the pros outweigh the cons’ when it comes to sex work.
‘Of course there was a moment where I stopped and thought “maybe this is too dangerous”, but I feel I do whatever I can to minimise the risk, that’s all you can do,’ she says.
The honest truth about sex work
Annie adds that the sex industry is only for those with ‘thick skin’.
‘You’re going to get judgement from a lot of people, whether that be online or in person,’ she explains. ‘I’ve know a lot of people have lost a lot of friends, or a lot of family members – they’ve been disowned by their parents.
‘You have to be confident and self assured, no matter what anyone says about you it can’t faze you. The amount of backlash I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis is crazy.
‘That’s the brutally honest truth of the job.’
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
MORE: I’ve been raped 10 times by different men
MORE: The only way I can see my dead mother is to watch the porn videos we made together
MORE: How years of sexual violence in Syria have impacted civilians – and what’s next for them