Teacher with OnlyFans page says she’s leaving Missouri school. ‘It’s been a journey’
A Missouri high school teacher placed on administrative leave after her OnlyFans page was discovered is now leaving education altogether, according to news reports.
Brianna Coppage, a 28-year-old teacher at St. Clair High School, was placed on leave in late September. At the time, St. Clair R-XIII School District Superintendent Kyle Kruse told McClatchy News the district was investigating after officials learned the teacher had been sharing “inappropriate media” online.
But as that investigation continued and Coppage’s suspension garnered national headlines, Coppage’s OnlyFans page skyrocketed in popularity.
On Coppage’s Twitter page, which highlights her OnlyFans work, she says she is “THAT teacher” and boasts she is among the top .03% revenue generators on the content sharing site, popular for its often sexual photos videos. That is up from top 4% she said she was a week prior.
“It’s been a journey for sure, the last couple of days have definitely been a roller coaster,” she told The Messenger. “It turned our life upside down.”
Coppage said she made $6,000 in a 24-hour span after her story first went viral, according to The Missourian. Previously, she had been making $8,000 per month on the site, the outlet reported.
A Change.org petition calling for Coppage to get her job back has received more than 2,000 signatures, but it appears the teacher does not have plans to return.
“I knew that I wasn’t going to go back into education,” she told the Riverfront Times. “So it was either run and hide, or lean into it. And at the end of the day, I still have bills to pay and I still have like a family to provide for. So it was not really a difficult choice to just lean in.”
She told The Messenger she already resigned from the school, about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. She was hired at the school in August 2022 as a communication arts teacher.
“I don’t want to fight the school district. I’m just ready for peace,” Coppage told the publication. “I knew that nothing was ever going to be the same if I went back so that was just the best option.”
She added, “I would like the education of students to be able to return to normal, they deserve to have a great year.”
Coppage’s decision to create her OnlyFans page was sparked by her teacher pay — just over $42,000 during the 2022-23 school year, according to The Missourian.
Missouri ranked 47th in the country for average teacher salary, the National Education Association said, with teachers making about $13,000 less than the national average. Teachers in the state had an average salary of $53,512 during the 2022-23 school year, according to the Missouri National Education Association.
She told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch she kept her OnlyFans account separate from her life as a teacher but noted she knew creating the page was “kind of a risk.”
Now she said she will “try to make the most” of her new internet fame, she told the Riverfront Times.
“What a whirlwind,” Coppage said in a tweet Monday.
This story was originally published October 5, 2023 at 8:58 AM with the headline "Teacher with OnlyFans page says she’s leaving Missouri school. ‘It’s been a journey’."