She once walked the red carpet at Hogwarts premieres—now she’s fielding requests for videos of herself “crying in lingerie” from anonymous men on the internet.
Harry Potter actress Afshan Azad, best known for playing Padma Patil in the film series, recently opened up about her controversial decision to join OnlyFans to climb out of mounting personal debt. But in a raw and unsettling interview, she revealed that financial freedom has come with a dark cost.
“I’ve had people ask me to record myself eating cat food,” she told The Independent. “One guy wanted a custom video where I pretend to be kidnapped by a Death Eater. Naked.”
Azad, now 35, said she turned to the subscription platform in 2023 after struggling to find consistent work post-Potter. Her savings dried up during the pandemic, and auditions were scarce. “I had £17 left in my account,” she admitted. “Something had to change.”
Her decision was met with both support and harsh judgment.
“When I launched, it was all over Reddit,” she told Vice UK. “People acted like I’d betrayed the franchise. But none of them were paying my bills.”
Now, less than a year later, she’s reportedly making over £15,000 a month through subscriptions and custom content. But the emotional toll is building.
Azad says the most disturbing part hasn’t been the nudity—it’s the psychological line many fans want her to cross.
“There’s this obsession with power. They want to humiliate me,” she said. “The most requested video type? Crying. Crying while reading Potter lines. Crying while dressing like a schoolgirl.”
Screenshots shared with BuzzFeed UK show dozens of messages requesting she degrade herself, pretend to beg for money, or speak to viewers as if she’s been ‘cursed’ by a wizard and must ‘obey.’
“It’s like they want to reverse the fantasy,” she said. “I was in a film about magic and empowerment. Now they want to make me powerless on camera.”
Social media lit up after clips from her podcast appearance on Diary of a CEO went viral. In the video, she holds back tears while describing a man who sent her over £2,000 and then demanded she send back a video of her burning a Hogwarts costume “in shame.”
Fans are divided.
One comment from @HarryPotterLore reads: “She deserves better than this. She was a part of our childhood, not our fantasy.”
Others are less sympathetic.
A Reddit thread from r/onlyfansadvice surfaced asking: “Did she think it’d be all flowers and filters?”
But some celebrities are rallying behind her. Emily Ratajkowski reposted the story with the caption: “Sex work is still work. Consent still matters.”
Azad says she doesn’t regret starting the account—but she’s changed how she interacts with fans.
“I stopped doing customs. Too much darkness in the inbox,” she said. “Now it’s just content I create. My way.”
She also revealed that her OnlyFans income helped her pay off all of her debt, fund therapy, and set up a savings account for her younger brother.
“I’m not ashamed,” she told The Guardian. “I’m surviving. That’s more than some people can say.”
As for her future? She says acting is still the dream—but on her terms.
“I’d love to return to film. But I don’t want to beg. I’ve had enough of begging.”
Azad’s story is no longer about magic or nostalgia. It’s about agency, power, and the brutal intersection of fame, debt, and desire.
And while the messages keep coming, she’s no longer crying on command.
She’s reclaiming the script.
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