Piper Rockelle’s grandmother is weighing in on her OnlyFans career.
“I just think it’s, like, the next thing,” Rockelle’s grandma, Donna Healy Smith, said of OnlyFans on a recent episode of Impact x Nightline, per People. “I mean, you can’t be 18 and, like, doing pranks on people and dancing on TikTok forever.”
Rockelle, 18, has been candid about supporting her grandmother financially with earnings from her adult content creation. In December 2025, Rockelle shared a video of her offering Smith enough money to retire.
“I’m not going to fight with her,” Smith said in the episode, referencing the monetary support she’s received from Rockelle. “I’m very proud of the decision she made. It is a lot of money, and I’m happy for her. She deserves it. And she’s not doing anything terribly wrong.”
Rockelle rose to fame as a child starring on her YouTube channel with her mom, Tiffany Smith, and posting DIY content, tutorials and challenge videos. Her videos featured her friends, who were called The Squad. In January, Rockelle made headlines when she announced she joined OnlyFans.
“I came to the realization that I’ve never really explored just being completely natural and just being,” Rockelle said of her choice to join the platform during a February interview with ABC’s IMPACT x Nightline.
After her first day with the adult content platform, Rockelle shared a screenshot of her alleged $2.9 million in earnings. She later opened up about her first shoot for OnlyFans.
“I’m doing my first [shoot], which I’m super excited about with Sophie Rain and Ayesha Sofey,” she said on a February sitdown with Impact x Nightline. “They’re like two hottest little girls ever — women. I love them so much. We just went on a little trip together and we took some photos and it was so much fun.”
Years before her OnlyFans debut, some members of The Squad sued Rockelle’s mom. Members claimed in 2022 that they dealt with “inappropriate, offensive and abusive treatment” that included “wildly offensive and sexually explicit comments.”
Smith has denied the allegations. “I have always strived to comply with the laws and never considered myself an ‘employer’ when kids get together voluntarily to collaborate on making videos,” Smith said at the time, per the Los Angeles Times.
The lawsuit settled outside of court for nearly $2 million in 2024. The next year, Rockelle told Rolling Stone that her former friends were not being truthful about their encounters with her mom.
“They’re not making it up, but they’re extending the truth,” Rockelle stated in the 2025 interview. “I was there. I witnessed every day … I think that they believe what they are saying, but I was there and I saw everything.”
Rockelle’s rise to fame and lawsuit against her mom was the center of the 2025 Netflix documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, which featured multiple former members from her group speaking out. Ahead of the documentary’s release, Smith shared a statement further denying the allegations.
“Obviously we didn’t do anything that was alleged, but sadly, money is a big motivator for certain personalities in this world. We made the decision to put this behind us because honestly, prolonged litigation would be even more harmful and painful to everyone involved – which includes kids,” Smith said. “Piper is a minor, and has already been through a great deal of unnecessary and harmful scrutiny. So we prioritized mental health, and made the decision to put this behind us and focus on the next phase of her career.”
