Yahoo News Dr Alex George joined OnlyFans 'to take mental health support to where people are'
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Love Island's Dr Alex George says being on OnlyFans is important because he wants to 'take mental health to the space people are in'.
He posts content on the subscription site for free, saying doctors need to be present in conversations that happen about our bodies because 'no-one owns health'.
Speaking to Kate Thornton on White Wine Question Time, George said it was important to be on the platform because people there may be struggling with their mental health too.
He said: "So many people that maybe are on there, as consumers or people that are actually creating content, they can be struggling with their mental health too.
"OnlyFans is used for lots of different reasons, but I guess the high profile stuff is where people are sharing modelling pictures, porn and things. Porn addiction can be a really big thing. So I want to take mental health to the space that people are in.
WATCH: Dr Alex George talk about his unlikely appearance on OnlyFans
"Mental health support should be wherever people are, and there isn't really any support on there. So I wanted to create content [to offer that]."
Thornton described him as 'turning up where he's least expected', having appeared on Love Island as a contestant in 2018, and started on OnlyFans last year.
He said when he left the villa there were some doctors and people in the medical profession that thought he shouldn't have done the show, but since then he says he's seen a huge rise in doctors with public profiles offering advice and information online.
"In the pandemic it was a godsend," he said. "Because it has taken people far too long to realise that people are going to talk about health. Whether you've got doctors or professionals or experts there or not, people talk about it."
He said conversations around the coronavirus vaccine and anti-vax movement still happened and doctors should be in them to 'dispel myths, manage and bring a sense of calm and reality'.
George added: "I also believe that no one owns health, it is not our right as doctors to shield this information or feel that we you know, we shouldn't be talking about this.
"Health is for everyone. If you want to reduce heart attacks in the country, reduce diabetes, even reduce suicide, your number one tool to do that is education. Education is more powerful than any pill."
According to the UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador, teaching people about good health will save 'a fortune' in bills for the NHS but it would take 'a huge change'.
Now though he doesn't hear so many complaints about why he's in the spaces he's in.
"Most people I think would agree that is genuinely a good thing that I raise awareness about the things I do, that I do the things that I do, and I'm glad to see medics as a whole kind of opening up to that idea and realising that there is a power in social media that we can use it for good," he said
Looking back on his time at medical school, the 31-year-old said he believed anything worthwhile in life never comes easy.
While he described the years as 'some of the happiest years and most amazing' of his life he also said he was working 'incredibly hard' and at time it was a struggle.
He said: "In that struggle, there's real memories, there's joy, and there's moments we look back on and go: 'You know what, I'm pretty proud of myself that I did that.'
"So don't be afraid of a challenge. Just go for things. I'd always rather try and fail than never try at all."
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WATCH: Dr Alex George on not letting Dyslexia hold him back; protecting mental health and the the loss of his brother
