We are joined this week by Michelle Hardenbrook. Michelle is a 70 year old sex worker based in New Orleans, who worked as a full service escort for 12 years. When the pandemic hit she had to pivot her business so she started an OnlyFans, had a video go viral on Twitter, and now she's in the top 1% of OnlyFans creators!
Vice documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jixgtCV1Jk
Manscaped: https://www.manscaped.com/ use the code [SOMEBODY] for 20% off and free shipping!
LINKS
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Somebody You Love is sponsored by Assembly Four, empowering sex workers through technology: https://assemblyfour.com/
For more info on sex work in Australia, please check out the following organisations:
ACT (SWOP ACT): https://meridianact.org.au/swop/
NSW (SWOP NSW): https://swop.org.au/
NT (SWOP NT): https://www.ntahc.org.au/swopnt
Qld (Respect Inc): https://respectqld.org.au/
SA (SIN): http://www.sin.org.au/sindex.html
Tas (Scarlet Alliance): https://scarletalliance.org.au/links/
Vic (Vixen Collective): https://www.vixencollective.org/vc
WA (SWEAR):http://sexworkerrightswa.org
WA (Magenta): http://magenta.org.au
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/somebodyyoupod
TRANSCRIPT:
Jenna Love 0:02
Have you checked out the somebody you love Patreon yet? For just
Holly Harte 0:05
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Holly Harte 0:15
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Holly Harte 0:23
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Jenna Love 0:28
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Holly Harte 0:34
patreon.com/somebody pod as in podcast,
Jenna Love 0:38
you do have to type in the URL because Patreon hides 18 Plus creators from the search so you most likely won't be able to find us by searching. That's patreon.com/somebody you pod Welcome to somebody you love. Boy for the sale of two tidies. I'm Jenna love,
Holly Harte 1:00
and I'm Holly Harte,
Jenna Love 1:02
and we're experts in disappointing our parents breaching community guidelines and banging the people who vote against our rights.
Holly Harte 1:11
Today we would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we are recording. Jenna is on Darug and Gundungurra land and I'm on the land of the nanowall people. We pay respect to elders past and present.
Jenna Love 1:23
Welcome to Season Two of somebody you love. We are joined today by Michelle Hardin Brooke, Michelle is a 69 year old actually she's turning 70 Tomorrow on The So the day after the day we're recording this. And she's a sex worker who is based in New Orleans. She worked as a full service escort for 12 years before COVID hit. And then she had to pivot her business. So she started and only fans had a video go viral on Twitter. And now she is in the top 1% of onlyfans creators. Michelle was suggested to us as a guest by sweet Sarah who is a worker based in New South Wales. Sarah sent us a link to a short vice documentary about Michelle, which will be linked in our show notes. We loved it. So we reached out and we found ourselves our very first international guest look at
Holly Harte 2:17
us going global.
Jenna Love 2:18
Hello Michelle. Welcome to the show.
Holly Harte 2:21
Hey, Michelle, welcome.
Michelle Hardenbrook 2:22
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. We are very
Jenna Love 2:26
glad to have you feeling very lucky. So we'll start off with the the obvious question. Tell us your story. What is it? What got you started in the adult industry?
Michelle Hardenbrook 2:37
Well, I got a job offer in San Diego. And so I moved from Seattle where I had lived for 40 years to San Diego, California for this job. Not realising that the people I was working for it was the family organisation. Were out of their fucking minds. And, and so I've been there eight months, and the family ends up in court fighting one another. And I got laid off. And I told him, You know, I don't have a problem, not working for you people because you're fucking nuts. But I have an employment contract, and you need to pay that. And the corporate attorney said he wasn't going to pay that. And I said, Oh, I think you will. And I hired an attorney. And six months later, the corporate attorney again contacted my attorney saying, you know, Michelle doesn't have any proof for for allegations and blah, blah, blah. And so when he got done with his little spiel, my attorney said, You mean this box of documents she gave me the day he hired me isn't proof. And he goes, what did she give you? And she picked up the sheet of paper, I had an index written down on a piece of paper what I had in this box, and she got to the third item, which was federal income tax fraud to the tune of $9 million. And he said she'll have her check by Friday. Okay, so I got my money. And it's very expensive to live in California. And my rent and utilities alone were 4700 a month. And the most I was getting for job offers was $10 an hour, which would even pay my power bill. And so when I was getting to the end of the payout from my company, I knew I had to do something. But I didn't know what I figured I'd just go back to Seattle. But a guy I'd met said, Well, why don't you do full body sensuous massage with happy endings? And I said, Well, that sounds nice. What is it? Because I didn't have a clue. I hadn't had sex in 12 years. So he explained it to me and I said, Oh, hell, I could do that. And so I bought myself a massage table. and put an ad on Craigslist back when they, you know, had the erotic section. And in four days, I had 25 appointments. So then I thought, okay, that proves a couple of things. Number one, there was a market for a woman my age because I was 56 at the time, and to 25 appointments in four days is too many. And so I sat down and I built myself a business plan. I decided how much money I have to earn every month in order to keep, you know, body and soul together and divided it by my hourly rate, and that's how many clients I had to see every month. And I functioned that way for 12 years while I was an escort.
Jenna Love 5:42
And did you move from doing the full body massage quite quickly into escorting?
Michelle Hardenbrook 5:49
It took about six months, because I figured out pretty darn quick that number one men need a variety. Okay? They don't want the same thing every time. And you eventually get through all of the clients that are interested in massage. And so many of them kept reaching, you know, they're facedown on the table in the reaching in a backhanded way. Looking for my crotch, yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 6:23
And so, I just decided, Well, might as well, you know, let's see if the ports open. Because I after 12 years of no sex I had I could have been a Born Again virgin. I don't know. And so I just started doing it.
Jenna Love 6:38
And it was open.
Michelle Hardenbrook 6:42
I was so surprised. It was like, Oh my God. And then the second thing I was surprised at was, How in the hell did I live without this for 12 years. But you know, as a woman, I'll just tell you, I'll clue you in. As a woman, if you do not have regular sex, then your body adjusts and stops creating the hormones that tell you that you want it. So in the 12th year of my celibacy, I only masturbated one time. And I didn't do it because I was horny. I did it for upkeep. You know? Yeah. Is it use it or lose it?
Jenna Love 7:22
I call them functional banks? Oh, yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 7:29
Yeah, just kind of have to clear the board. And so that's how I got into it. And, and then in San Diego, I built up a client base of 100. Guys, you know, that would see me over and over and over again. And then I moved to New Orleans. And I, I did leave my San Diego clients in good hands. Because there was a an older provider that I knew. And so I recommended her to my clients. And some of them went to see her and didn't like her. But you know, that's how it is. And then I've been in New Orleans, almost 10 years. And during that time, I've had 18 of my San Diego clients come to New Orleans to see me
Jenna Love 8:14
how I don't know the geography well enough. Like how long would that be to drive say,
Michelle Hardenbrook 8:19
oh, no, you can't drive. It's a 26 hour drive. Okay, okay. Wow. Yeah, yeah, they have to they have to fly in. Yeah. One of them. Gosh, I've seen him seven times. flies in, he gets a rental car. It comes to my house. We do our thing. And he drives back to the airport and then flies back home.
Jenna Love 8:41
You must be worth it.
Michelle Hardenbrook 8:42
I guess. I don't know. I take it back. I suppose. Yeah. I don't know what I do this so special. But I do give good head. Love it.
Jenna Love 8:52
That's a big part of it. Yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 8:55
It's like God gave me one talent. It's like, I know how to suck a
Holly Harte 9:02
dick. And so what made you start an only fans and how did you adapt your business to working online?
Michelle Hardenbrook 9:08
Okay, well, I started having some medical issues. So I went to the doctor and had a whole bunch of tests, you know, an ultrasound, a CAT scan an MRI, and I was facing a number of surgeries. And the first surgery was to take an abdominal mass out of me. It was attached to my left ovary. And I'd had a hysterectomy when I was 38. And they left him one ovary and they said, Well, it's kind of sickly, but it's still producing oestrogen. So we're gonna keep it in. Great. And so then 30 years later, I have to go in and have that ovary and a one pound mass removed. They should have just moved you know, taken the whole thing when they did the first hysterectomy And the doctor showed me when I resumed recovery, they took photographs. And he showed me the mass it was attached on the left to the ovary. And on the right, it was attached to my bowel. And they had to dig it out. And the ovary was as big around as an egg. Like a chicken egg.
Jenna Love 10:23
Yeah, that's not what it's supposed to
Michelle Hardenbrook 10:25
be. No, that's it's like three and a half times what two ovaries together with me. Yeah. Wow. And so no, like, cleaned all that out, which threw me into menopause again. So I get to go through menopause twice. And nobody else gets it once. Oh, isn't this great? Thank you. Okay, so since I knew I had to have the surgery, and I knew when the surgery was scheduled, I knew I had to do something to get money coming in to support me and my son, because he's disabled during my recovery period. And several people had mentioned lots of different websites, you know, many bids, Southern charms, you know, all kinds. So I checked them all out. And most of them I didn't like because the site controls the content. And I don't like that. I don't like anybody controlling me if I wanted that I'd have a button
Holly Harte 11:22
or a husband.
Michelle Hardenbrook 11:24
Oh, no, I wouldn't mind a husband.
Holly Harte 11:26
Oh, a woman after my own heart. Oh, I wonder why can't
Michelle Hardenbrook 11:31
several. But I haven't had any any has since 1996. I think it was. So it's been a while. So I settled on only cans after I read their their terms of service and realise that I don't have to post according to their schedule, I can post what I want when I want within certain confines. You can't post things like poop videos, okay? Or animals sex or, you know, children. And so I decided on that. So I went ahead and started my only hands. And then I needed people to come over for content. And I knew that most of my clients would not do this, you know, because they don't want their face be shown because well, they're married. Let's be real. And so I made a short little video asking for volunteers in New Orleans now, and I posted it on Twitter. And I only had 239 fans or followers on Twitter at the time. So I small audience, I only needed one or two. And I got up the next morning. And suddenly I had over 2000 followers. My phone had 212 missed calls. And it like 400 and some odd text messages. And I'm going What the hell. And so then I go over to Twitter and find out that some guy who I guess is a famous rapper, I don't know who he is. He saw the video. And he thought it was funny that at my age, I would want this. And then over the course of a month, I had 5 million views. And so the month of February to 2020. I ended up having 3315 fans, on my only fans, I made $33,000 That month thing. That's amazing. And then in March, I went in and had my surgery, and the money just kept coming in. And then the governor in March, two days after I got out of the hospital, the governor in Louisiana, shut down the state because the COVID. And so because I had all these physical ailments, there's no way I was going to see anybody during COVID. And so then it ended up being my only fans was my only income Well, except for Social Security, you know, for us old folks. But that's 647 a month and you can't live on that. And so that's how I got into only fans, and I remain there because it continues to give me money. And then when I had the documentary done, well, that was a hoot. And I had no idea that it would cause such a stir. But now over 800,000 people have seen that documentary and people keep joining my only fans. It's like okay, you know, I don't understand why anybody wants to see an almost 70 year old naked.
Holly Harte 14:52
Oh, come on. You got to stop. Yeah, you're killing it.
Michelle Hardenbrook 15:00
And another thing that they really like is my voice. Hmm. For some reason,
Jenna Love 15:05
you have a lovely voice. It's incredibly charming. very jazzy. Yeah. We like the the accent we like.
Michelle Hardenbrook 15:13
I talk like a sailor, you know, it's fucking awesome. Yeah, they say intelligent people use the word fuck a lot must really brainy,
Jenna Love 15:28
clearly must obey. So Michelle, like a real source of frustration for a lot of sex workers, is that we have so many men in our DM sending us messages saying, Oh, I can I help you make content. And so we all find that really frustrating. But you actually put them to work. So tell us a bit about your volunteers.
Michelle Hardenbrook 15:52
Okay, so some of my volunteers are actually clients, younger clients that I used to see. And and those I trust, implicitly, you know, because I've seen them a lot. And I know how they are. And I know that they'll follow directions. Because I don't like men that do not follow directions. Hmm. Yep. Same. It's like my ballpark my rules. And so I will put up a notice on Twitter or on only fans are both asking for volunteers. And my very specific, which doesn't seem to matter to them. And I tell them, you need to be in New Orleans, you need to be available. Weekend, daytime, hours, you need to be okay with condoms. And you need to be okay with your face being shown on camera. And so I get responses. Well, I'm in Chicago, but I wouldn't mind flying in. And it's like, now what I want to say is, what the fuck is wrong with you? Can you not read? But that's not what I say. What I say is I really don't want anybody flying into New Orleans because I have health issues. My son is disabled, and I have to care for him. Now, if something happened at the last minute, and I had to cancel and you had flown all that way, and got a hotel room and a car, you would be pretty darn mad. You know that I cancelled on you. Yeah. But you see if you live in Louisiana, and I cancel, it's no big deal. We'll just reschedule. Yeah, and some guys say, Oh, well, I wouldn't be mad. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah, sure. You would be?
Jenna Love 17:44
Yeah, you say that now?
Michelle Hardenbrook 17:46
Yeah. But most of the guys smile. They'll they'll get the point. You know that? No, you're not flying into New Orleans. Now some of them say, Well, I'm going to be the earth December. Fine, then contact me when you're here.
Jenna Love 18:00
Yeah, let me know when you're actually here with cific.
Michelle Hardenbrook 18:03
Yes, yeah. And I want to know what hotel you're at, you know, to verify. And then I always ask them, Do you have proof of COVID vaccination? And they go, yes. And I say well, that please send me a picture of your COVID vaccination cart. And you'd be surprised how many guys like that they didn't get the vaccine. Because that card never shows up. And some people on the on the comments for the documentary say, Oh, she's so worried about COVID But she's having sex with strangers. Well, that's what's condoms are bar.
Jenna Love 18:39
Yep, definitely. You can't put a condom for COVID it doesn't exact No, no vaccine is what are the Do you know what the sort of rights of vaccination are where you live for the
Michelle Hardenbrook 18:51
total population on a 57%? Oh, we are one of the lowest vaccinated states in the country. Yeah, wow. The South is historically under vaccinated because a lot of people that live here are stupid. And I'm serious as surgeon. I'm glad you said that. You know, it's like you are too stupid to live yet you persist. And not only that, you're greedy.
Jenna Love 19:20
Yeah, yeah. I mean, what what are the camera numbers
Holly Harte 19:28
Holly? Oh, I don't know of total total population but of eligible people in the eligible age range. I think we're up to 96% but Canberra is one of the highest in the world but I don't know. Yeah, Canberra is, you know, the capital of Australia. We're incredibly you know, we amenable we listened to the government to a fault.
Michelle Hardenbrook 19:50
Yeah. What a novel idea. Of course, we had Trump in the White House at the time. Yeah. So
Jenna Love 19:55
maybe don't listen to the Yeah, and
Michelle Hardenbrook 19:59
I mean, it's like When I originally got my my Twitter account, it was to troll Trump.
Jenna Love 20:08
Oh, we love you. I love that.
Michelle Hardenbrook 20:09
Wonderful, beautiful sent him something like 87,000 tweets, mostly calling him a fucking moron. Yeah, appropriate. And I got put in Twitter jail at any time. So of
Jenna Love 20:23
course, for being nice to him a lot more often than he did.
Michelle Hardenbrook 20:27
Yeah. And it's like, I'm being mean to you look what you're doing to my country.
Holly Harte 20:34
You're obviously a very open minded liberal, you know, wonderful woman in that regard. But why you are such an open minded woman. We'd like to know a little bit more if you can tell us about some of the fetishes or more unique interests that you entertain as part of your job?
Michelle Hardenbrook 20:50
Oh, well, when I was escorting my most unusual request was from an out of Towner, who was going to be here in Louisiana for six months. So I saw him six times, once a month. It was always on a Sunday. It was always at 9am. And he would always arrive with a go cup. You know what a go cup is? It's a it's a red plastic cup of a solo cups. Yeah, so World Cup. Yeah. In Louisiana. You can walk out of a bar with a go. Uh huh. Oh, you could walk the streets Stark and let her that. We even have these things called a drive thru daiquiri place. Oh, I love it. You know, and it's like, Excuse me. You can't drink and drive? Well, they need the cover on the strong. But the straws in the cup. Yeah, they did the cover on the straw. And as long as that covers on the straw, you're not breaking the law. So you could drink the drink and put the cover back on the straw. And you haven't broken the law. But you have consumed the Daiquiri? Hmm. Yeah. much of a drinker. Anyway, and I've lost my train of thought again.
Jenna Love 22:10
You he would turn up at 9am on every on the Sunday.
Michelle Hardenbrook 22:14
Oh, yes. With a gold cup in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. And we go up to my room. He'd sit down and he'd open up the bottle of wine, pour it in a cup and check it until he drank the entire bottle. And he says, Okay, let's go. And so that he'd stripped down, he'd lay on my massage table on his back. And I would put on a latex glove and lube it all up and up his ass. I'd go
Jenna Love 22:44
love that. We were both big fans of fisting. So yeah,
Michelle Hardenbrook 22:49
that's when he, when he originally came, he didn't want my fist, he had this huge dildo. I mean, it was like this big around it and it wouldn't fit. And he was very frustrated with that. And he says we'll try your fists. So I did that because I have small hands. And and that was fine. And he's jerking off while I'm doing this, you know. And then he came and I pulled my hand out and you know, took the gloves off and got him all cleaned up. And he goes, thank you. I'll see you next month. And I think I took about four times. And he finally told me he said I I'm not like this all the time. He says I'm very normal most of the time. But occasionally I like this. And I said, Well, there's nothing wrong with it. You're not hurting anybody.
Jenna Love 23:35
Nope. There's nothing abnormal about it. I mean, I think it would surprise people how common that can be.
Michelle Hardenbrook 23:40
Well, you know, people, people need people need and as long as you're not hurting somebody else and it doesn't involve a child or an animal. I don't care.
Jenna Love 23:49
My grade. Absolutely.
Holly Harte 23:50
I just adore you. Can
Jenna Love 23:51
I keep you Yeah, we love I think you're
Unknown Speaker 23:55
great okay we'll take toys. Yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 24:09
Things like Barbie dolls, probably.
Jenna Love 24:11
Unless they vibrate.
Michelle Hardenbrook 24:16
Like Brady Barbie had?
Jenna Love 24:18
I'm sure that exists somewhere to it. So we did we touched on this slightly like you, you live down in Louisiana. And my perception and do correct me if I'm wrong, but from it from an OC, my perception of that region is that it's fairly conservative, and that it's the kind of area that wouldn't really be supportive of sex work and have sex workers. Is that an accurate take? Have you had people sort of react poorly to your work?
Michelle Hardenbrook 24:46
Well, it isn't accurate take although in the French Quarter, there is an old brothel. That was that was in business until the seven Days. All right. And so while the the people here are extremely conservative, the police officers are not. I had four police officers that were my clients. Oh, yeah. Okay. Isn't that weird? Mm hmm. When the first phone arrived, you know who's in uniform?
Jenna Love 25:20
That would have been a bit? Did you get a free? Yeah. Was that
Michelle Hardenbrook 25:22
I got? I thought, Okay, what the hell is this about? And, and so I greeted him and I said, Hi, you know, and he goes on your 1130 client. And I said, Okay, so I brought him in the house. And I looked at him. And I said, Well, hon, I don't really know what to do with you. And he says that he's got some disease. I can't remember the disease yet. But it causes pain in his back. And he says, I need a massage. And he gave me my fee. And I gave him a massage. And I gave him a happy ending. And he came back the next day. And we did it again.
Jenna Love 25:56
Oh, must have Banggood massage.
Michelle Hardenbrook 26:01
And then he did contact me once and want me to see him for free. And I told him, No, no, no, this is a business and you need to pay me. Fuck yeah. And I said, I am not going to be rousted. And one time, the property I live on has this house, and there's also an apartment in the backyard. My son lives in the apartment now. Okay. But when I first moved into this house, there was a guy named Greg that lived in that apartment. And on February 1 2016, my landlady showed up, and she needed me to go into that apartment with her because he wasn't answering the phone. And we knew that he had been ill. And so we walk in there, and we call his name. And finally he says, I need an ambulance. And we call an ambulance. And by the time the ambulance got here, he had died. And so I had two clients that day. And I contacted the first one and I said, My neighbour just died. And so when you arrived, you're going to see an ambulance and a police car. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with me. So he came, and we did our thing. And he left. And when he left, I go outside another six police cars in my driveway. Oh, wow. Six of them. And the corners down. I had to go ID the body because my landlady couldn't because she was 87. And she knew it would probably kill her if she looked at a dead body. And so I did the body. And then my phone rang. And it was my next client and he says, I'm early. Should I be concerned? Centre house? And I says, oh, no, it doesn't have anything to do with me. That black Dan is a coroner's van. And I said, Come on,
Jenna Love 27:49
and I'm talking to you. So
Michelle Hardenbrook 27:52
he came over, we get our thing. And when he left there was nobody there. So here I was upstairs breaking the law with police on the premises. And oh, come on. I look like a school teacher.
Holly Harte 28:08
You look innocent enough to get away with it. Yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 28:12
You know, that the house I live in from the time it was built back in the late 70s. It is always had a business operated out of it. A business of some sort. A real estate business, a bakery business, some business, and my landlady knows I do massage. And so I they're still in business here. So my neighbours on either side, they don't think anything of it. And I never saw more than three clients in a day. And this is America. And we can have company if all were allowed. And and so as long as nobody is pointing fingers at me and calling the local police and Santa by the way, we got a hooker over there. Parkway. That just never happened.
Holly Harte 29:01
So can I just ask a quick question that's not on the list. I just wanted to know, have you? You said you know that your landlady knows you do massage, but with your very strong social media presence and strong, you know, identity on only fans and stuff like that. Have you had anyone that you know, in your real life? Recognise you from that? Or say, you know, you know, is that you or have you had any reactions from people that you know,
Michelle Hardenbrook 29:28
I haven't. That's good. I'm kind of surprised at that.
Holly Harte 29:34
Are you waiting for the day?
Michelle Hardenbrook 29:36
Well, I know that my viral video got on Facebook. And so I know that there's probably a couple of people that I know that saw it. But they had good sense not to confront me. Because I don't do well when people confront me. I just tell them off.
Holly Harte 29:57
Good on you. Yep, no one's business
Michelle Hardenbrook 29:59
I guess. seemed like, my bottom line is, are you supporting me? Because if you're not paying my rent or buying my groceries or paying my car insurance, then you have absolutely nothing. I want to hear your opinion is your opinion you have the right to it. But I don't want to listen to it. Love it. Yeah, I have no interest in your opinion.
Holly Harte 30:21
Speaking of which, something that every sex worker experiences is nasty comments and trolls. Aside from what you've just discussed, that you don't really take that sort of stuff on board, how do you deal with them? Do you like to confront and argue with them? Do you ever feel any effect from the comments? Or are you above at all?
Michelle Hardenbrook 30:38
Well, I'm certainly not above at all. You know, I'm a human being and I have feelings. I handle it kind of one of two ways. My main attitude is don't treat the animals. If you don't answer them, you're not feeding them. Because you're not giving them something to answer back.
Jenna Love 30:55
Because yeah, they live on the attention. Right,
Michelle Hardenbrook 30:59
right. Occasionally I will answer if someone is being very judgmental. In I will say something like, well, thank you for offering your unsolicited opinion about my life. I'm sure we all are just thrilled with the expertise you have on presto. Unfortunately, the sarcasm doesn't come across, you know. Yeah. And sometimes I'll say something like, Well, if you don't like my peaches, honey, then don't shake my tree. It's like just because I'm online doesn't give you the right to insult me know.
Jenna Love 31:38
And I'm not forcing myself on you. You can click on a different page you can go
Michelle Hardenbrook 31:43
exactly. I asked one guy that you know made a nasty comment about my documentary. I asked him who held the gun to your head to force you to watch it. You chose to watch it you could have just scrolled on by not only did you watch it and then you have to post a nasty comment Well fuck you in the horseshoe wrote in on I mean you know I just don't have a whole lot of tolerance for it. And you know when you get a certain getting to a certain age, there is freedom in this because when I was 35 There's no way I would have just been falling into a bucket of tears. You know, that someone didn't like me and is like I just when you stop and look at it from a slightly different perspective. I am 69 going to be Saturday tomorrow tomorrow copybook. And so for 69 years I oh my god
Holly Harte 32:40
this is how you miss he's an Italian greyhound. Oh my. He says looking forward to cute baby thing, sweetheart. Yeah, it's very clingy. As you can see, I'm struggling.
Michelle Hardenbrook 32:53
Or she full grown.
Holly Harte 32:55
He's full grown. He's six years old. He just turned six. Yeah. Birthdays actually his little Yeah. is only a little fella.
Michelle Hardenbrook 33:05
His name Hamish Hamish.
Holly Harte 33:10
Yeah, he's a DAG. Oh, he really loves Jesus. Yeah, he's a big Sukiya. And yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 33:18
There we go. asleep under the covers. Yeah,
Holly Harte 33:21
he sleeps right against me spooning, like he's my little spoon and I hold him. Yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 33:24
Well, I have three of them under the covers with me. So I could never have a husband because there's no room for it. That's no
Holly Harte 33:32
good. No room in the bed.
Jenna Love 33:34
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, good. Beautiful. Mr. Love has been using manscaped products for a few years now. And he swears by them. He's been using the lawn mower 3.0. And also, sometimes I still eat from his bathroom. And I use it to, I'd say Don't tell him but he's editing this podcast. And yes, despite the name, the product itself is actually gender neutral.
Holly Harte 34:05
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Jenna Love 34:27
Of course here at somebody you love. We believe that you should groom or knock room at your body hair however you wish. But trimming is a great option because you don't have to worry about all of the hassles that come with shaving or waxing, like ingrowns micro cuts that awful itching when it grows back and also irritating the delicate skin of your lover. If you're visiting a sex worker, it's the perfect way to ensure that everything is neat and tidy, but with no breaks in the skin that can increase your risk of transmission and infection.
Holly Harte 35:00
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Jenna Love 35:29
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Holly Harte 35:49
We have a few questions from our patrons. So some of our followers had a few things to ask you. Okay, firstly, do you know the demographic of your fan base? I assume they are mostly men? Are they mostly younger, older or a mix?
Michelle Hardenbrook 36:04
I think it's a mix. And it may be more over 40, then under 40. There's a few women. But I think, well, they may be a fan just to support me, which is nice. But on the other hand, they want to see what kind of content I'm posting to maybe boost their own fan base. So the young guys in particular are extremely impatient. You know, they every day, what are you going to post more content? And I finally asked them, I said, How often would you like me to post new content every day, of course. And I said, Okay, you're thinking that this is like Pornhub, where you can go and there's this, you know, a whole lot of new videos that got posted every day? Well, I think of it as Playboy magazine, it comes once a month. And you go through every all the pages. And when you get to the end of the magazine, you don't contact the editor and demand more content, because you've got what you paid for. And I do content only on weekends, only during the daylight hours, that's for my own safety. And if my volunteer doesn't show up, then there's no content. That's just how that is. And you're just gonna have to go through the content that's posted and view it again. And if it doesn't do anything for you, well, then I think you're watching too much porn perfectly because it sensitise itself. You know, the first time is thrilling. And the next time it's like it's boring. Really, I don't know that I want you as a fan.
Jenna Love 37:54
But it's also this, you know, they go well, I'm a paying fan. It's that hold, okay, they're paying say $10 You're getting $8 of that. And it's like you separate that over 30 days. That's a few cents a day. You know, exactly directing a brand new video, every single days is really expecting a lot. I think, yeah, you're gonna be
Michelle Hardenbrook 38:15
really disappointed. It's like you don't have to re up. It's fine. I can live without your 1299
Jenna Love 38:22
Yeah. And then they'll come back because they'll miss you now realise how good they are.
Michelle Hardenbrook 38:27
about it, because they do they always circle back around because they can't find anybody like me. Yeah, that posts the content I post. And I see I don't edit my videos. I film them. I post them and let the cards fall where they need. Yep. And people said, Don't you edit this? No, I don't. And I mean, there's even a video while I was filming something, but I fell off the bed. So vertical, and that's posted. That's great. It's just it's what it is. You know, I believe in truth in advertising. Nobody can possibly say I had no idea that you'd look like this. No, really. My entire body is showing every stretch mark, every sagging piece of skin is all
Jenna Love 39:22
showing. And that's what they love. That's what
Michelle Hardenbrook 39:26
you know. I mean, I finally noticed the other day that my ass is getting huge. In a second. When did that happen?
Holly Harte 39:34
That's very in these days. Everyone loves a fake one.
Michelle Hardenbrook 39:37
I had no idea.
Jenna Love 39:38
Michelle Kardashian. Oh, it's very trendy.
Michelle Hardenbrook 39:41
Yeah, but you know, she's got that teeny tiny waist. Okay,
Holly Harte 39:46
and what's overrated? Yeah, don't worry about that. I've got like
Michelle Hardenbrook 39:51
a box or rectangular box. Back someone told me that I was built sturdy. This is true. Okay. I have a very sturdy body. I don't I don't have
Jenna Love 40:04
a problem with that. You don't want a fragile body?
Michelle Hardenbrook 40:06
No, no. And if you're going to have boobs that are size 40, Double G, you need a sturdy body because otherwise you'd fall over.
Holly Harte 40:14
Yeah, speaking of bodies, I think Jen has got a
Jenna Love 40:18
you talked a little bit about the like, the emotional side of things that's involved in this work, which is so often underrated, I think. But in terms of the physical, so you look like you're in great shape. But as we go through life, our bodies, you know, they start to cause us more and more problems. And it's a job that is quite physical, as you said, sometimes you fall off the bed. So have you had to adapt what you do? And are you worried about like limitations on your body in the future?
Michelle Hardenbrook 40:47
Luckily, when I do content, most of the time, I'm either on my back or on my knees. I can handle that. Yep. Now, when I'm setting up all the cameras, and I turn it on, because I use three and I turn them all on, you see me kind of hobbling around my bedroom. Well, I have problems with my back. And hopefully tomorrow the injections will solve that problem. And then I won't be hobbling. But I'm not too concerned. Unless something drastically goes wrong.
Holly Harte 41:17
So for the time being, you make it work, and you find it's quite fitting for your needs.
Michelle Hardenbrook 41:22
Well, yeah. And I have had people that say, Well, you know, you want to change it up and maybe suck in the living room. And it's like, I'm not gonna do that my son could walk in. No, have you lost your mind? is like, No, I have a very nice bedroom. And I can film in there, and I can film film in my connected bath. And if that's not good enough, I mean, they shouldn't be concerned with what I'm doing. Yeah, not with where I am not the day cool. I mean, one guy, one guy wanted me to go out my backyard and film me running around the backyard naked. We just had a hurricane here in August, and part of my fence back there is gone. Oh, and it's like, oh, I can see this. Me running around naked in the backyard. The guy living behind me in his bathroom window jerking off. No, I
Jenna Love 42:16
won't beat him. You know,
Michelle Hardenbrook 42:19
see, and this is the thing they don't understand. But it's because men are visually stimulated. Usually women are not. Sometimes depending on what they're looking at, you know, it might get the motor going. But generally speaking, men are visual. And women are not. And so men always want to see something, you know, and I get asked for the damnedest things. And, in fact, I just had a guy that asked me for a very specific custom video, which I completed yesterday. But I had like 2000 messages in my DMs on only fans, and I couldn't remember who he was. And so I had to post a message to all of my subscribers. Say it. Okay, so the guy ordered this video, and he wanted me to wear a tight top, my glasses, black stockings, and talk dirty to it. That video is done. So I need him to contact me and pay me so I can send it to me.
Jenna Love 43:26
Because I don't know who you are. Yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 43:29
So I get this morning. And I have 95 DMS in my only fans. And they're all saying send it to me. So yeah. And at first what I did is I said you didn't order it, you know, because I kept the message. So I, you know, so ultimately, when I got to the 42nd message, it died that actually God ordered the video, and I told him, you know, pay me and then I'll send it to you. Everybody else. So what I told him this, if he doesn't get back to me, then I may just auction it off.
Jenna Love 44:06
Yeah. If there's 90 Something people that wanted the same domains,
Michelle Hardenbrook 44:11
I told him, the guy that ordered it. When he asked me how much it would cost I told him $100 Now I told him that normally I'll do a video for like 10 Oh, okay, I don't like talking dirty. I'm not good at it. Okay. And and there's a deep psychological reason. Okay, why I'm not good at it. But there are occasions when I can do it, but I'm not comfortable doing it. But I figured well, if that's what you want, that's fine, but you're going to pay for it. Because if you're going to make me have an anxiety attack, because this is what you want. Then you are going to pay for it. Yeah. So we'll see if he actually pays for it if he doesn't have to auction it.
Jenna Love 44:53
No, I'm gonna buy it and yes, I'm on the market
Michelle Hardenbrook 44:55
for several someone's Yeah. You know, I mean, if send it to a totally different people, you know, in their private DM, disable know that.
Holly Harte 45:07
That's business. We weren't.
Jenna Love 45:11
We weren't beautiful. That's one of the best things about this industry is that you set your prices. And it's a, you know, a lot of people might go, Oh, that's too expensive. And it's not about what the customer wants to pay. It's about right. Okay for you. Right.
Michelle Hardenbrook 45:28
This is not a negotiation. No, I mean, do you go into the supermarket and say, Oh, I don't want to pay this much money for the steak. I'll give you this much money instead. I mean, will that fly? I believe it will not fly. That's it, no matter what you're you're wanting to purchase. You don't have the right to negotiate. Unless it's like, at a consignment shop.
Jenna Love 45:53
Yeah, remarkable. So like there are there are places where that's a that's an acceptable thing. Yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 46:00
But not in sex work. It's like, this is what I charge. And if you cannot afford it, or you don't think that it's worth it, then that's fine with me. Yeah. Move on. We seen one another. And that's fine. Yeah, I'm not a charity. And I don't know you from Adam. Oh, and I what I love is when they're young, and they send me a picture. Yeah. And they go, Well, don't you want to ride this text? Not for free for free? Not?
Holly Harte 46:32
Michelle, I actually followed you way back at the start of the pandemic on Twitter. And I think you must have had your account deleted, did it get shut down or something like that? Because
Michelle Hardenbrook 46:41
I had, I had a stalker, oh, man. And he had stolen all of my content on onlyfans. And we're selling it on Reddit. Gross. And so I actually contacted him through email with my, you know, regular email with my name, and asked him about purchasing some of the content. And he sent me a picture of me. I wrote back to him and I said, that that's my picture, and you are posting my content. And he goes, Well, you have to prove it to you. And I said, No, actually, I don't you have to prove it. You. He just went round around with me. And then I discovered his name, and where he lives, and his phone number. And I sent him a text. And that damn near made him shit is paid off. He goes, How did you find out who I am. And I said, I not only found out who you are, I found out that you're on probation. And what you're doing is illegal. And if you don't take my pictures down, I will contact your probation officer and I will have your ass in jail again. And so he went to Twitter and he flagged and he also I had I had a GoFundMe up for my surgery costs. And he contacted GoFundMe because he you know, and I have a DMCA jump yet. And he contacted my agent and telling him he was going to contact GoFundMe and have all that money taken back out of my account. So I closed the clothes to go fund me down. And I had $9,000 in there, but I mean, I got the money. That's not the point. But next thing I know, I'm being banned from tour. Yeah. And I had 66,000 Yeah,
Holly Harte 48:32
I remember like, Yeah, over about almost nearly two years ago, about a bit over a year and a half ago. And then
Michelle Hardenbrook 48:39
yeah, and then I started a new one. Yeah. And then they they suspended that. And then a couple months later when I finally just given up. They reinstituted Oh my right, which is at m 70056. That's my zip code. And, and so now I have a little over 7000 followers yet, but this has been a slow, slow process. Any helped that I had the documentary. I got a lot of new followers that way, but Twitter's not doing much for
Holly Harte 49:14
me. Have you thought about tick tock?
Michelle Hardenbrook 49:16
You can't push sexual stuff on.
Holly Harte 49:21
You know, you can be flirty, that's enough.
Jenna Love 49:24
It's hard to have i i posted my first video on Tik Tok and I got a ban within about
Michelle Hardenbrook 49:30
really? Yeah, same here. I did it and they banned it. And it's like, Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. You can watch all this ridiculous stuff, but don't yet. You don't want to see an old lady flash on her.
Holly Harte 49:43
Okay, rude. Rude. They don't know what they see. They have no idea.
Michelle Hardenbrook 49:47
Well, that's true. And I tried read it and I got banned from there too. Oh, and it's like, okay, fine, whatever. You know, I just cannot I can't deal with websites. sites that are so convoluted in their rules. I mean, Reddit has different rules for different categories. And it's like, really? If it's this difficult to navigate, I don't want it. Yeah. You know, I'm old. I got no patience for this shit.
Jenna Love 50:17
Fair enough. So I don't know if we'll link your Twitter because it might get us a bit of a fly, we can gently, yes, I will be linking on Twitter, it will definitely in the show notes, there will be Michelle's Go Fund Me, which is to buy a house for her son. And yeah, we will have your stuff, the vice documentary will be linked there as well. Can
Holly Harte 50:38
I just ask a quick question, which is just wanting to know, what do you think Michelle, at the moment? Is your quality of life? Like, do you? Are you really happy in your life? where it's at? Like, what more could you wish for? You know, maybe when you move you think it'll be better? Or how, like, how are you feeling about
Michelle Hardenbrook 50:54
my quality of life overall, right now is probably better than it's ever been in my entire adult life.
Holly Harte 51:01
Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.
Michelle Hardenbrook 51:02
I mean, I, I was poor. For most of my life, raising my kids, I was making $6.50 an hour, trying to raise two kids, and go into the grocery store was a nightmare, because I never, I had to keep track as I went through the store about how much I was spending to make sure that there was no embarrassment at the checkout. And I couldn't afford things that were luxuries to me like Kleenex. And I know that sounds ridiculous, this Kleenex is a luxury. But when you don't have the money, it is a luxury. And people don't understand what it's like to be living in abject poverty. I mean, I had to go once a week and donate plasma to get $25 so that I could go to the grocery store and buy food for my kids. And so now, I can buy Kleenex. Yeah,
Holly Harte 51:59
small things.
Michelle Hardenbrook 52:01
Anything I want the little things that make
Holly Harte 52:03
the difference? Yeah,
Michelle Hardenbrook 52:04
it does. And of course, when I moved to San Diego, well, that will mean that I bought a house and that will take such a load off my mind.
Holly Harte 52:16
Yeah, that's so nice to hear. And I'm really glad that that's, that's where you're at. You know, that's awesome.
Michelle Hardenbrook 52:21
Yeah. And sex work has been good for me. You know, I don't know. You know, why people are so judgmental about sex workers. I mean, I didn't get into it until I was 56. But hey, it was good to be. And I was good at it. You know, as like, I've been waiting all my life to know what I was going to be when I grew up. I love I didn't expect I'd end up being an escort. But you know what? It's the one thing that actually fit me.
Jenna Love 52:52
Yeah, I think we both feel like, yeah, you're me, you're me.
Michelle Hardenbrook 52:58
I can choose who I see. I can choose when I work. If someone comes in their asshole, I don't ever have to see them again. You know, it's like, boy, it's so empowering. Because when I was young, I had my astrological chart done. And they said that I should be self employed. Doing what because I couldn't for the life of me think of what I be doing. But so much younger in my life. I was so religiously moral that there's no way I could have done it. Then I had to have the 12 years with no sense to identify within myself what my hang ups were, you know what I needed to do to fix me? And then voila, I became an expert. Love life. I made money. I made friends,
Holly Harte 53:46
even some across the world, they go on the other side of the world. Thank you so much for joining us today. Michelle, it has been an absolute pleasure. It's just your joy. And I think we both relate to you so much. Yeah.
Michelle Hardenbrook 54:01
Thank you for having me and invite me back.
Jenna Love 54:03
We will do a part two for sure. Okay, we'll talk to you soon. Bye. Okay. Bye bye. It's time for us to give a very big special grateful thank you to our patrons.
Holly Harte 54:19
Our new giving somebody this week is REM sequins. We have a new very generous somebody Berlin
Jenna Love 54:26
are even more generous. Somebodies are Paul Catherine Fritzi. A tits Liam. Ellen Celeste, Wheezy Margaret Maji. Our secret admirer big M. Andrew Scott Watson, Lesley Nora Knightley, Miss Billy sub London, Laughlin, Leo, Adam Smith, Andrew and Timmy
Holly Harte 54:50
are extremely generous somebodies are Aaron Samuel Andrew Pete. Theodore Betts, the first Esquire, Amanda Valentina, CNS St. Breno ad a more. John T. Nick, wombat and Harry.
Jenna Love 55:06
Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you next week. Please look out for us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Patreon. Our name everywhere is somebody you pod as in podcast. Our Patreon started just $3 a month, and you can get all of our episodes ad free and a day early, plus bonus episodes behind the scenes action, bloopers and more. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the voices of sex workers. And remember, somebody you love might just be a sex worker.