In September 2004, Drea de Matteo experienced the best moment of her professional life. In her first and only nomination, the actress who had brought Adriana La Cerva to life in The Sopranos won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress after five seasons in the acclaimed series. “There are many people responsible for this, but if I try to thank any of them right now, I might vomit, choke, cry, or die. You’ve already seen me do all of that,” she said sarcastically on stage. The award seemed to be the definitive trigger for one of the most promising careers in the cast of a show that was already heading towards its final stretch. Being an unknown actress in the industry, she transcended the role of the young mobster Christopher Moltisanti’s girlfriend thanks to the vulnerability and humanity of a character trapped in a spiral of violence, emotional dependence, and frustrated dreams.
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She also became a sex symbol, regularly appearing on lists of the world’s most desired women, and a true Y2K style icon with her miniskirts, leopard prints, leather pants, and the hypertrophied volume of her blonde hair, an aesthetic reclaimed years later with the rise of the mob wife trend. The tragic resolution of her fate is still considered one of the great scenes in television history, but its protagonist never managed to replicate the media dimension of her first major character. Now, 22 years later, she is achieving it, but far from the spotlight of the movie capital.
Drea de Matteo has returned to the headlines, but not for her artistic achievements. An OnlyFans account, a fierce speech against Hollywood, and an anti-establishment brand have made her one of the major voices in the ultra sphere of the United States. “I am a controversial bitch,” she defines herself in her new role as a content creator. Ultrafree (Ultrafree) is the name of the podcast hosted by De Matteo, in which she advocates weekly for questioning the so-called “Deep State” and participating in the culture war by giving voice to anti-establishment activists, canceled figures, and various conspiracy theorists. From the supposed power of pharmaceutical companies and government surveillance to conversations about the Apocalypse, chemtrails, censorship by big tech, or alternative cancer therapies, the universe of Ultrafree moves between radical libertarianism and permanent questioning of institutions. To complete the business, a clothing brand of the same name dresses its philosophy with oversized sweatshirts, neutral colors, and large logos with slogans like Anti Bullshit, closer to the merchandising of a digital tribe than a conventional fashion label.
According to the artist from Queens (New York), 54 years old, this new business venture is the only way she found to stay afloat after being blacklisted by Hollywood. In her version, she was a victim of an industry that rejected her after she refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Almost instantly, she says, her film friends distanced themselves, her agent abandoned her, and job offers plummeted. With barely ten dollars in the bank and about to lose her house due to mortgage default, De Matteo followed the advice of her teenage children and opened an account on the adult content platform OnlyFans with a bikini photo. Fifteen dollars per subscription to access what she herself defined as “grandma porn.” According to her own account, in just five minutes, she had earned about $75,000, enough to avoid the foreclosure of her home. “OnlyFans completely saved my life. Anyone who wants to condemn and belittle me, go ahead. I just hope they never find themselves in the situation I was in to support two small children. It saved the home where I have lived for many years and that was very important to us. And beyond all that, it has given me enough money to launch and finance Ultrafree,” she confessed to the Daily Mail.
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Her ideological evolution is striking. Although during her acting career she barely spoke about politics and even confessed to having voted for Democratic candidate Joe Biden in 2020, for some time now De Matteo has become one of the biggest defenders of President Donald Trump, whom she has described as “the big daddy.” She has also shown her anti-abortion stance and claimed that Hollywood is a “wild” industry for those who do not follow the set rules. Not even some of the most conservative sectors of public opinion, who usually agree with many of her precepts, supported her when she revealed that it was her 12-year-old son – she has two, from her relationship with music producer Shooter Jennings – who edited some of the suggestive photos she later published on OnlyFans. “It was the kids who told me: ‘Do this. Show your feet. Take selfies! J.Lo and the Kardashians are always in bikinis on the internet, why aren’t you?’” she adds. The secret of her success as an erotic model, she confirms, lies in carbohydrates: “Before each photo at most, I don’t look good in them if I’m skinny. I’m an Italian lady stuffing myself with pasta and steaks. You want your breasts and butt to look big. Otherwise, the photos are a yawning festival,” says the actress, who currently shares her life with guitarist Robbie Staebler.
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Although De Matteo insists that her rejection of health mandates ended up putting her on a blacklist in Hollywood, the truth is that her career had been calling for reinvention for years. As happens to many actors who create an unforgettable character, she never fully escaped the shadow of Adriana La Cerva. With the media push of The Sopranos, she got a leading role in Joey, the Friends spin-off, playing the sister of Matt LeBlanc’s character, but the series was canceled after just two seasons. Later came roles in shows like Sons of Anarchy or Shades of Blue, alongside Jennifer Lopez, a steady career but always from a secondary role. Hollywood never again offered her a character capable of matching the impact of the one that made her a star. Two decades later, her name is back in the news, although for very different reasons than those that once seemed to promise her a long career at the top of television.
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