Can one of the world’s greatest ultrarunners be a sex symbol? For Camille Herron, the answer is “Why not?”
This year, the 44-year-old athlete started an OnlyFans account, joining a growing roster of outdoor athletes using the platform to share “adult content” and earn some extra money. But for Herron, taking nude photos and sharing them with fans is more than just empowering. In a candid interview with GearJunkie, Herron said she grew up performing as a dancer and musician, and had long wanted to return to creative pursuits.
The decision to express herself through OnlyFans has already paid off, both emotionally and financially. She’s gained roughly 2,300 followers on the platform, where she said she found a sex-positive community that reflects her comfort with frank discussions about sexual health. During a long conversation, Herron was infectiously joyful about her pivot to an OnlyFans model — and brutally honest about her last few years in the ultrarunning spotlight.
Wikipedia Controversy
She’s still dealing with the legal fallout of a 2024 controversy accusing her of editing Wikipedia articles to promote herself. She maintains that it was actually her husband, Conor Holt, whom she said was “acting in good faith.” Regardless, Lululemon soon dropped its sponsorship of Herron, though the brand also acknowledged that the termination occurred “without cause” and not because of misconduct from Herron.
And her defamation lawsuit against Canadian Running Magazine, which published the initial article, was dismissed a few weeks ago. The judge dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction because Herron filed the lawsuit in Arizona, and did not rule on Herron’s defamation claims.
For those who know Herron — who holds more than a dozen world records in ultrarunning — the controversy was surprising. And some longtime friends were concerned when Herron announced her OnlyFans account on Instagram. But the famed runner said she’s actually more than excited than ever about what the future holds.
“I now feel like it was a blessing in disguise that what happened two years ago has led me to OnlyFans,” she said. “This is one of the best things that ever happened in my life.”
Q&A With Camille Herron
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
GJ: Many more outdoor athletes have been creating content on OnlyFans in the last few years, including ultrarunners like Sabrina Stanley. You started yours just 3 weeks ago. How has it been so far?
Herron: Every day since I joined OnlyFans, it has been crazy. It’s pretty incredible what’s been happening here. I’ve known Sabrina since the beginning of my ultra career. We’ve always been free spirits. I chatted with Sabrina about OnlyFans, and I feel like I thoroughly vetted the decision. But I didn’t anticipate it taking off.
In fact, I didn’t know what OnlyFans was. I had to ask my husband. But I love out-of-the-box thinking like that for other kinds of sponsorship opportunities. I created my account back in February, but it didn’t take off until a few weeks ago.
I always wanted to do artistic nudity. I loved the ESPN Body issues, which they had until 2019. I always thought that was the coolest thing ever. And I grew up as a performer. Dancing, piano, voice, band: That was my identity when I was a young girl. I did sports and I performed on stage. I started deep-diving on the performance stuff I did as a kid, and sharing that on my Instagram. It made me realize that I had this urge to be creative and share more content than just running.
It just felt like I need an outlet for this. So I created an OnlyFans. I knew it was more for adult content. There was a very long process of talking to my husband and my family. They always told me I should be a model. My grandpa called me “Ms. Runway,” as in runway model.
I’m 44. I grew up with Madonna. If she can be a sex symbol, why not Camille? This is a new chapter in my life.
What is it about this work that resonates with you?
I just feel this urge to do creative stuff. I know stepping into an adult content platform is kind of bold. I was thinking about how this is going to impact me down the line. And I decided, “Who cares what people think?”
I have a really great body. I’m tall, 5’9″, and built for modeling. I never really got to pursue all the modeling and performance things. I’m somebody that does it all. My husband and I looked at pictures of other athletes that had done artistic nudity. We got old Playboys. There was this high jumper, Amy Acuff. She was sponsored by ASICS and featured in Playboy back in 2004. I was so inspired by that.
Athlete bodies are beautiful and strong, and we should be celebrating our bodies and the work that goes into that. There’s a lot of stigma about sexuality and being a sex symbol. There’s a hypocrisy about stigmatizing sex. It’s what created us. Why shouldn’t we be celebrating that?
Has anything surprised you as you’ve started sharing content as an OnlyFans model?
The word got out just over 3 weeks ago, and I started getting all these fans. When people discovered I was on there, I started getting slammed with a lot of dick pics [lots of laughing].
But I had talked to Sabrina about what to anticipate. And in the first few days, I had a lot of sincere talks with fans and giving my female perspective. I felt like a sex therapist. My mom is like my best friend. She said I’m like a Dr. Ruth.
I feel like it’s such a positive thing. People are putting down adult content, and I didn’t feel that way. People are like, “You’re selling porn.” But my original idea was to preserve the memory of my body at my athletic prime. I knew going into this that I would be sexualized. I’m basically a porn star.
People frame it in such a negative light, but this has been one of the best experiences of my life. Every single day I’ve been on here — the stories I could tell are mind-blowing. I feel like I’m doing good.
Can you give an example of one of those stories?
One of the first people I chatted with was somebody I actually know in person. And he was talking about his relationship and the mismatch of the libido with his partner. I told him it could be health-related, or that maybe he should go through marriage counseling.
That was 3 weeks ago, soon after making the account. He ended up being my first fan to engage with me on a sincere level. I’ve known this guy for over 20-something years. That was me realizing that the impact I could have was far greater than I expected. It’s been a lot more meaningful than I could have imagined.
You mentioned that your husband has been a big part of this. Can you elaborate on that?
I’ve been with my husband for 25 years. I’m happily married. I’ve had such a great, strong relationship with my husband.
My husband encouraged me to do this. I came into it with an open mind. I shared a controversial post about 2 weeks ago, and within the first 48 hours of being discovered on OnlyFans, someone called me a “hotwife.” I didn’t know the term, but it was applicable to me and my husband.
Then I realized the stigma toward being a hotwife and owning that. When I shared that I was a hotwife, I started having people unfollow me and calling me a sex worker. There was so much shame and stigma. But since all this happened, my sex life with my husband has been great.
People don’t know what they don’t know. I think people would be really surprised if they did it themselves.
You haven’t spoken much to the media since the Wikipedia controversy in 2024. What happened?
The whole Wikipedia thing started because a trail runner started removing parts of my bio, including things about my achievements, and disabilities, and family. The so-called controversy happened because my husband edited other athletes’ pages because those changes happened on my page. They claimed I was involved with all this when I wasn’t. But I lost my sponsors. My name got smeared all over the media, and they never interviewed me.
My husband acted in good faith, and I was not involved in Wikipedia. I still have pending legal matters, and I’m basically sponsoring myself now because I’ve been without major sponsors for 2 years. Since that happened, it kind of liberated me to rethink my life and my career going forward.
It seemed like a nice thing to be able to pursue OnlyFans, which is also very lucrative. There were multiple reasons for why I wanted to do this. But I now feel like [the Wikipedia controversy] was a blessing in disguise.
How are you dealing with some of the negative responses to being on OnlyFans?
I felt like I really wanted to break that stigma. This is an 18+ space. This is consenting adults in a safe space.
There’s so much going on in the world right now, and it feels like people are so negative. But OnlyFans feels like a positive light amid all that. I have a sex tape on there. I’ve produced adult content already. I’m putting it all out there. I’m not afraid. I’m somebody that’s fearless. I’m not caring about the judgment of others.
Even when I started showing nude content on my profile, I didn’t know how people were going to react. A lot of people have reached out to me and said this was a dream come true for them to see me naked. It’s been body empowerment for me to hear that.
Female distance runners — we don’t have voluptuous bodies. I have a very fit and lean body, and I didn’t know how people were going to react to that because I’ve never done that before. Now I have photographers reaching out to me.
I also applied to be a model. I’m 44, and I still have an amazing body. So I thought, why not try this and see what happens.
You’ve mentioned “artistic nudity.” Can you elaborate on what that means to you?
I did my first photo shoot a week ago with a photographer here in Tucson, and it was such an empowering thing. I want to be able to instill confidence in other female distance runners to have self-love for their bodies, and appreciate the beauty and strength and how their body was shaped by their sport. I’m a sexual human being and I’m not afraid to talk about that.
I love artistic nudity. I just think human bodies are beautiful. The ESPN body issue stopped in 2019. What happened with all that? There’s been this loss of appreciation for athlete bodies. I’ve been getting people writing comments about me “making porn.”
But if it’s the athlete doing it versus the photographer, what’s the difference? If Madonna can do it, why not me? I want to do the same thing. I want to be a sex symbol. I’m sponsoring myself now, and monetizing my own image and my own brand. I’m at the point where I can do that. I’ve had a successful athletic career. I feel very secure and confident in myself that I can do this.
A lot of athletes are probably not as open as I am. Maybe we’ll see more athletes join as a result of this.
Any future plans you’d like to share?
There’s actually a nude trail here in Tucson. I have a drone, and my husband and I are going to run nude on the trail and film it. Even though I am a small-boobed woman, I don’t know how well that’s going to go [laughing].
