The former child star joined the subscription-based platform known for adult content on Jan. 1

NEED TO KNOW

• Piper Rockelle’s grandma, Donna Healy Smith, addressed the 18-year-old content creator’s debut on OnlyFans in an interview on IMPACT x Nightline
• Rockelle — who rose to fame on YouTube in the 2010s — made the surprising career pivot on Jan. 1, opening an account on the platform known for adult content creation
• Rockelle has previously shared that her first major purchase after joining OnlyFans was buying her grandma a new car

Piper Rockelle’s grandma is sharing her thoughts about her OnlyFans debut.

In a new episode of IMPACT x Nightline — which examined Rockelle’s rise to fame on YouTube in the 2010s, abuse allegations made against her mother and Rockelle’s recent turn to adult content creation — the internet personality’s grandma, Donna Healy Smith, answered questions about her granddaughter’s recent career pivot.

“I just think it’s, like, the next thing,” Smith said of OnlyFans, a subscription-based platform known for adult content. “I mean, you can’t be 18 and, like, doing pranks on people and dancing on TikTok forever.”

On Jan. 1, after teasing fans throughout December about the launch, Rockelle, 18, opened an account on OnlyFans — where she claims she earned nearly $3 million in less than 24 hours.

The move proved controversial: Many online criticized the internet personality for promoting adult content creation to her young followers.

Speaking to PEOPLE in January, Rocklle admitted that her audience includes “a lot of younger kids” and that she had received messages from some of them saying that it’s their “dream” to be in the Bop House — a collective of OnlyFans creators — after watching her content; she brushed off the messages, however, saying that it’s “just the world that we live in.”

“I understand that it might be hard for some people to see someone who they’ve grown up with have so many different weird little lifestyles that they’ve had,” said Rockelle in a January Rolling Stone interview, responding to critics of her OnlyFans debut. “But I’m not going to be a kid forever.”

Rockelle has made a point to financially support Smith with her earnings from content creation. Her first major purchase after joining OnlyFans was a car for her grandma, and she posted a video in December sharing the moment she offered Smith enough money to retire.

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“I’m not going to fight with her,” Smith said in the Nightline episode, referencing the financial support she’s received from Rockelle. 

“I’m very proud of the decision she made,” she continued. “It is a lot of money, and I’m happy for her. She deserves it. And she’s not doing anything terribly wrong.”

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