Benson played the role of Zeke Beakerman on 'Wizards of Waverly Place.'
Former Disney star Dan Benson is opening up about his career in adult entertainment. The Wizards of Waverly Place alum took to TikTok this week to share a mental health update after he made the switch to adult content.
Benson played the role of Zeke Beakerman on the Selena Gomez-led Disney hit series from 2007 to 2012. His last credited acting role was in 2018 before he transitioned into being a full-time OnlyFans model.
"Mental health-wise, I feel good," Benson explained in his candid video. "I don’t feel bad about myself. I feel kind of like a badass a little bit."
Reflecting on his decision to become an adult entertainment creator, Benson said, "I’m feeling good. I’m excited about the future. I don’t really feel bad about my decisions at all."
The Disney Channel alum says that he has set boundaries with what he feels comfortable sharing on the platform. "Now, there are plenty of people on a daily basis asking me and demanding I do things that I don’t feel comfortable doing, but I’ve kind of just been in a position to just be like, 'No, you’re gonna get what you’re gonna get. You’re gonna get what I’m comfortable with sharing with the world,'" Benson explained.
In January, Benson took to TikTok to explain how he made the transition to the adult entertainment world, saying, "I tripped and fell into adult entertainment."
The actor revealed that he began getting messages from "women that I found incredibly attractive" online.
"Turns out, messaging those women, who turned out not to be who they said they were, turned out to be not the best idea," he admitted, noting he sent them "nude photos" that they would then post online.
Benson said that discovering his nude images were "all over the internet" was a "pretty traumatic experience." He said he spent years trying to get them wiped from the internet and that he "did not want them out there."
"I ended up almost losing my job later in life because of that after I retired from acting," he said of the nude photo leak. "It had a very big, negative impact on my life."
But after years of battling this invasion of privacy, Benson noted, "I decided to stop fighting against it and instead go the other direction and completely lean into it... Instead of letting these people sell my privacy, my... you know what I mean. I decided to say, 'Alright, screw you. I'm going to sell it myself.'"
He said that after a year of working in the adult entertainment industry, he's been "having a tremendous amount of fun," saying the transition has "changed my life for the better."
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