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Former Disney Channel star Dan Benson is opening up about how he turned a "pretty traumatic" experience into something that's "changed [his] life for the better."
The 35-year-old played "Zeke Beakerman" on the Selena Gomez-led show "Wizards of Waverly Place" from 2007 until the show ended in 2012.
In a recent TikTok video captioned, "I tripped and fell into adult entertainment," Benson revealed what led him to become an OnlyFans star.
"Basically, when I was on the show ‘Wizards of Waverly Place,’ I would get messages from people all the time, some of those being women that I found incredibly attractive," Benson explained. "Turns out, messaging those women, who turned out not to be who they said they were, was not the best idea, because I would send nude photos to them, and they would take those nude photos and then post them onto online websites."
Cast shot from "Wizards of Waverly Place" (L-R) David Henrie, Jake T. Austin, Jennifer Stone, Selena Gomez, Davie Deluise, Maria Canals-Barrera, Dan Benson, Austin Butler, Kandyn Bouchez (Adam Rose/Disney Channel via Getty Images)
Benson remembers learning that his nude photos and videos were "all over the web" and said the experience was "pretty traumatic."
He also recalled trying for years to get the footage completely wiped from the internet to no avail.
"Obviously, I did not want them out there," he said. "But, as you can imagine, that was a pretty difficult task. As it turns out, I ended up almost losing my job later in life because of that after I kind of retired from acting."
Former Disney star Dan Benson reveals how he "fell into" the world of adult entertainment. (Brian To/FilmMagic/Dan Benson Instagram)
Benson admitted the experience had a "very big negative impact on my life," but says he eventually turned it into a positive.
"I decided to stop fighting against it and instead, go the other direction and completely lean into it, and build out a page and instead of letting these people sell my privacy, my — you know what I mean," he shared. "I decided to say, ‘All right, screw you. I’m gonna sell it myself.’"
Dan Benson played "Zeke Beakerman" on "Wizards of Waverly Place" from 2007 until the show ended in 2012. (Photo by Bruce Birmelin/ Disney Channel via Getty Images)
The former Disney Channel star said he started this new "adventure" last year, and has been having a lot of fun.
"I've met a lot of really great people in the adult entertainment industry, and it's changed my life for the better," Benson continued.
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Although he admitted he wasn't sure why he was sharing this information with his almost 171 thousand TikTok followers, he hoped they enjoyed learning more about him and how he "accidentally became an adult entertainment performer."
"Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. I highly suggest you do," he concluded.
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Besides his recurring role on "Wizards of Waverly Place," Benson periodically voiced ‘Ethan’ on seasons one, two and three on the show "Rick and Morty." His last credited acting role was in 2018 for the film "Killing Diaz."
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