Look, being a child star is tough. Even those that manage to carry on a career in the industry after growing up don’t always have an easy go of it—just ask Lindsay Lohan, who we’re just glad to see glowing in promos for the upcoming Freaky Friday sequel.
So it’s commendable that former Wizards Of Waverly Place star Dan Benson has continued to work consistently in entertainment. Though being an OnlyFans star does have a few downsides…
We imagine you’re familiar with Benson’s work of late—after all, he’s apparently one of the most searched adult performers in PornHub’s gay category. (Sure, he’s straight himself, though he has no qualms with male viewers checking out his content.)
But before all that, he was a child star, working on a number of family-friendly TV and film projects throughout the 2000s, most notably The Disney Channel’s Wizards Of Waverly Place, where he played the recurring character Zeke Beakerman across the show’s four seasons.
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Earlier this year, Disney announced it would be spinning off that series about a family of wizards with a new story focused on Justin Russo (David Henrie), who returns to his magical past in order to train a young, new wizard.
And, sure enough, much of Wizards‘ original cast is returning one way or another—even Selena Gomez is coming back to make a cameo as Justin’s sister Alex and serve as an Executive Producer on the show.
So does that mean Benson’s Zeke Beakerman will return, too? No, it certainly does not!
@danleebenson #disneychannel #wizardsofwaverlyplace #selenagomez ♬ original sound – Dan Benson
Since the reboot’s announcement, the 36-year-old’s been pretty up front about the fact that he never expected another phone call from Disney now that he’s a legit adult film star. “They can’t afford me anymore,” he joked on X.
And in a new interview for the TMZ documentary Famous & Naked, Benson elaborates further, sharing that he understands why they didn’t invite him back—something he’s totally at peace with:
“I know for a fact that I will definitely not be a part of it—that’s all on me, I totally get it. I made choices,” the performer admits. “I put the chance of bringing back the character I played away when I decided to go on this path of being an adult content creator.”
And, at this point, Benson realizes he wouldn’t even say yes had they asked!:
“I put all of my self-worth into whether people still recognized me [from Wizards Of Waverly Place,] or can I get another acting job after this,” he confesses. “I’ve reshaped my life and took back all those years I’d given to acting, and it felt like I had nothing left. I don’t have anything left, and I don’t love it anymore, so I don’t want to do it anymore.”
Benson seems to be in a great place these days, remaking that he gets to be his own boss and do things his way. In fact, the whole reason he started an OnlyFans account in 2022 was to re-claim his body—and his power.
As he says in TMZ‘s Famous & Naked, there was a time before then when his private, personal images of his body had been leaked and shared on adult websites across the internet. Every time he’d successfully manage to get them taken down, they’d pop up again elsewhere, so his efforts felt futile.
“What really, really pissed me off,” Benson recalls, “was the fact that there were websites out there that were selling my nudes and making money off it! I tried to take them all down, I tried to attack each of these websites one by one, but every time I would do that and have one taken down, four more would pop up… I just got tired of fighting it.”
@danleebenson Plot Twist. #disney #wizardsofwaverlyplace #unexpected #disneychannel #gay #gaytiktok ♬ original sound – Dan Benson
That’s when he came to the realization that there was a way for him to make the profits—and carve out a new path for himself:
“What if I take away the power of these people who are selling stuff without my permission? And what if I sell better content, more of it to those people directly and I monetize it and I take advantage of that opportunity for myself?”
These days, Benson has traded in Disney’s magic wand for… a wand of his own, we’ll say. And he’s all the happier for it! (Though he does tell TMZ he still wonders if Selena Gomez is familiar with his body of work.)
Scroll down below for more photos of Benson’ living his best post-Disney Channel life:
