Kirsty Buchan: Teacher struck off after making OnlyFans content 'didn't think she would get caught'
A former physics teacher was struck off the teaching register in Scotland for creating adult content on OnlyFans, saying she had to make ends meet as a single mother.
Kirsty Buchan, 34, appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday (June 11) where she spoke to presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley about her decision to join the platform and the events that led to her leaving the teaching profession.
Buchan, who had taught for nearly a decade, left her job in late 2022 after the school she worked at discovered her adult content. She was officially struck off this week.
When asked why she joined OnlyFans, Buchan explained: “It’s such a long story. My son hadn’t been well. He was seeing a specialist at the hospital. I’m a single mum. I had no help to watch him - my only other help was my nana, who was going through cancer and radiation therapy.”
“I needed time off and they were going to dock my wages. So it’s not as if it was the only job I could have done. But it was the only job that would get me enough money to pay my mortgage, Christmas, and my broken car.”
She told the programme she had taken precautions to conceal her identity, using a stage name and a costume: “I used a different name, I’ve got my moniker, Jessica Jack Rabbit. I put a wig on, loads of make-up - it didn’t look like me. I didn’t think I was going to get caught.”
Despite that, Buchan admitted she had considered the risks and had even spoken to her teenage son about it. “We need to take responsibility. I knew the risks involved. I knew there was a risk, I spoke to my son about doing it. He’s 14 now.”
She added: “The saying ‘good teacher gone bad,’ a lot of people pretend to be teachers on the site. I didn’t think I would be caught. I didn’t think I would be famous.”
On whether she could continue teaching after being exposed, Buchan said: “Yeah, it would be harder to build a good relationship with new pupils. The ones I already worked hard to build that relationship with - I’ve still got that bond with them to this day.”
Reid raised concerns about the influence of such content on students, saying: “I think a lot of parents and teachers are worried at the moment about children in school looking at these kinds of images. They're worried about girls being encouraged to share racy images with boys at school. Then you have a situation where a teacher is putting all of this online and saying it's role model behaviour.”
Buchan responded: “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. At the same time I’ve not shied away from it. I’ve taken responsibility. What I’ve taught is, your pictures can go out there. I’m not saying do this. I worked really hard to be a teacher. I went to university, two jobs while being a single mother. I had to do this for extra money.”
She also confirmed she would not return to teaching: “I barely slept. And there wasn’t enough money.”