Actress Jessie Cave, who gained fame for her role as Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter film series, has spoken openly about experiencing financial difficulties after her time in the franchise. Cave, 39, recently revealed that she began posting non-sexual content on the subscription site OnlyFans to help manage the costs associated with raising her four children.
Cave shared that she felt "embarrassed" by her money troubles, noting that many people assume she is wealthy due to her Harry Potter role. "I was in Harry Potter, but it was a smallish part and it was 20 years ago, I've done little roles ever since and I've mainly done comedy," she explained. "People assume I'm rich and have loads of money, but no I don't. It's embarrassing because on a certain level I'd really like to get a job."
Speaking on the television program This Morning, Cave elaborated on the financial strain, particularly the high cost of childcare. "It costs so much for childcare. I mean even going to the Edinburgh Festival, I can't even really afford to do the whole run anymore, because I can't afford how much it would cost to take all my kids," she said.
She decided to join OnlyFans after realizing that her four children were her primary focus. Initially, she posted videos of herself braiding and brushing her long hair, which resonated with users. "I was really in a quite desperate spot, and at the time Lily Allen has just come on, she'd said she'd used her feet for money, and I thought this sounds great!" Cave recalled, also mentioning Kate Nash's use of the platform to fund tours.
Cave described her hair content as "artful" and akin to a "circus act." She explained that after the birth of her fourth child, she struggled to find artistic work that fit around her home life. "I have really struggled to find a way forward financially as an artist, and this was always a way of having a stop gap just while I work out what I'm going to do next, see if I can earn a bit of money on the side to fund my next show or my next tour or whatever I do," she stated.
Cave gained recognition at age 20 after being chosen from 7,000 auditionees for the role of Lavender Brown. Despite subsequent theatre work, she has faced dwindling job opportunities that accommodate her parenting responsibilities with comedian Alfie Brown. Her initial viral post on OnlyFans led to her accumulating 3,500 subscribers, each paying $6 per month, in addition to paid messages.
Cave also shared difficult memories from her time filming Harry Potter, including an incident where a costume designer allegedly shamed her about her weight. "The costume designer came up to me, gripped the fat on my hips and said, 'What is this?' She gripped it so hard it left me in pain. I just had to say, 'That's my body,'" Cave recounted. She also claimed to have been told to "suck in" by a director immediately before filming a scene, which caused her to cry.
Following her return for the final film approximately 2 stone heavier, Cave felt she was "treated like I was invisible" and experienced a significant shift in how she was perceived, attributing it to her weight gain. These experiences have made her cautious about the upcoming HBO reboot of the Harry Potter series, expressing concern about the potential scrutiny child actors might face. "I would not wish that on my kids. I wouldn't want them to face that scrutiny. You're signing them up for a job where there can be a lot of cruelty – it hardens you," she said.