Top Image: Zachary Hourihane for Rice Media
“So…should I watch his OnlyFans content?”
I’m on the phone with a colleague discussing Titus Low. At RICE, we’re known for really going there. I’ve pitched this story as an in-depth look at the daily life of Singapore’s highest-earning male adult content creator. My editor’s voice pings in the back of my mind. Dig deeper. Go further.
But I can’t. At this point, I’ve already spoken with Titus on Zoom. It feels morbid to view the motion pictures of his paywalled jewels. It would’ve been easier to watch his content before we met. Ultimately, I decide not to watch and thus I’ll go in blind when I visit his home; so as not to pre influence my judgment of him.
Then my editor links me to a Twitter thread discussing a recent Titus adjacent controversy and I’m confronted with the…content…I tried to avoid. I feel as though I’ve violated Titus somehow, just by looking. So when I show up for our final interview, I’m skittish.
Interviewing is a performance of sorts. It requires active listening and rehearsed dialogue. The adage to calm the nerves comes to mind: picture the crowd in their underwear.
But what if you’ve seen ‘the crowd’ without their underwear?
I.
“I moved to this place to get more privacy,” Titus says, ushering us into a lift that opens into a 3 bedroom apartment with an expansive balcony and a lush city view.
His new digs are certainly more private than his family home in Bishan. Tucked away in a wealthy enclave near Bukit Timah, his condominium bears all the markers of the newly-moneyed—sports cars idle in the car park, an oblong marble-tiled swimming pool, and a robust gym with its own dedicated security.
It’s only been six months since he started creating adult content, but clearly, Titus is doing well. When talking to Mothership, he hinted at a ‘decent’ five-figure monthly income. He plays coy when I press him for a thorough breakdown of his finances.
Given his vagueness, I start to catalogue the various luxuries he’s amassed. The first splurge I notice? A feline. “That’s Simba,” Titus says by way of introduction, as an impeccable cream-coloured cat with piercing blue eyes loops around my ankles.
Simba’s elegant presence wasn’t cheap. Because he’s a purebred rag-doll, Titus coughed up around S$5,000 to take Simba home. There’s another designer cat (less expensive at S$500 because he was acquired directly from the breeder) and a S$9,000 dog, who is attending obedience school during our interview.
Other amenities suggest a serious influx of cash as well: one large Diptyque candle, a Balmain bedspread, bags from Dior and Louis Vuitton, and a Supreme skateboard. Not to mention his S$9,000 rental which he splits with a roommate.
I don’t mean to fawn over excess. I’m merely shocked (and slightly appalled, if I’m honest) by this 22-year-old’s unabashed opulence. I’ve always thought of the early twenties as a humbling time—away from the cushion of the family home before a ‘serious’ career is established. One gains gumption through lack and resourcefulness.
But in the cult of content, ‘lack’ and ‘resourcefulness’ don’t come up in the playbook. This display is merely par for the course, a starter pack if you will. Of course, Titus wants more.
II.
As a kid in school, Titus was shy. He’s a self-described introvert and this is evident when I meet him in person. “He kind of eats his words,” RICE producer Feline noted as she reviewed some footage from the interview. We direct him to sit on his bed, holding his S$5,000 cat for the interview, and he recoils into the bed frame—rounding his shoulders like a touch-me-not plant.
Often, I ask Titus to repeat himself. It’s not just because of his enunciation, he’s soft-spoken as well. Even when he laughs, it’s a contained, small expression. It’s hard to reconcile this demure, almost bashful young man with the tattoo-adorned shirtless avatar online. But ultimately, his digital sauciness makes sense. Posting topless photos when he was younger, helped him to gain some self-assurance.
“The first topless photo I ever posted was an after gym selfie. I thought I looked good and so I randomly posted it. The nice comments I got helped to build my confidence. Other people started reposting my pictures on their accounts, and there was more and more attention.”
I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Titus’s success has more to do with his looks than his personality. He has a searching, childlike face with doe eyes, and we all know that sexualised youth sells. His boyish looks are contradicted by the sleeves of tattoos that adorn his arms.
Because he’s so “daring” with his sexuality on OnlyFans, Titus has amassed a significant number of sexually-charged followers who are presumably there for the eye candy. This is why I’m confused when he says that his audience loves his personality.
For a moment, let’s separate Titus Low the person from Titus Low the persona.
Though he’s lowkey in person, Titus has plenty of personalities. He’s deeply paternal towards his animals. He plays classical music on the piano. He wants to make people happy. In general, Titus is a pleasure to be around—relaxed, easygoing, and hospitable.
But there are few, if any, traces of these characteristics on his social media profiles. When I review them—from Instagram to TikTok—I experience the most watered-down, benign version of the Titus I met in real life. Between asinine thirst-trap videos and POV: I’m your boyfriend posts, there’s not much evidence to say that his followers are there for his thoughts and dreams.
That’s not to say his fans wouldn’t be interested in his thoughts and dreams, there simply isn’t enough proof to guess one way or another. Soon, Titus will launch a YouTube channel. I’m curious to see how this will go, given that he’s been reticent to share his actual personality online. Plus, his characteristics aren’t suited for the internet anyway.
On video platforms like YouTube, it’s more of a contest to see who can shout the loudest or say the most outrageous things. Watching him mumble as he holds his cat close to his chest, I can’t imagine what value Titus can add to that.
III.
“I’ve gotten so many opportunities since I started doing OnlyFans.”
Titus looks pleased when we discuss his lucrative new venture. He’s grateful to live here, in this fancy apartment, where he has the privacy to make risque content. It was understandably tricky to make OnlyFans videos while living at home with his parents.
“I’m not close with them,” he says of his parents, with some resistance, and I leave it there.
As I probe him about the intentions behind his OnlyFans, I realise he hasn’t put much thought into it. It doesn’t trouble him that his face is visible in his nude pictures and videos. He doesn’t care what the older generations might think of his career. If his family stumbles across his content? That would be awkward, but not a disaster.
On the whole, he’s secure and confident in his work and his accomplishments. I’d even say that he’s proud—and he should be. Success in the public eye is hard to come by and harder to hold onto. Props to him for creating intrigue.
However, I can’t help but compare Titus’s brazenness with Lola’s wariness. Earlier this year we profiled a female OnlyFans creator—and her considerations were far more complex.
Lola is hesitant to give out any personal information for fear of being stalked. She’s been followed and harassed due to the content she posts online. She’s also paranoid that her parents will find out. The gag of it all is that Lola doesn’t even post fully nude pictures.
There’s still a degree of stigma and shame that accompanies sex work. It can be argued this stigma impacts women disproportionately. Titus is less bothered about being shamed, mostly because it hasn’t (as of now) affected his safety or his earning potential.
“I don’t view myself as a sex worker or a porn star. I don’t get shamed so much anymore, maybe more so in the beginning. You know, some guys are impressed by what I do. They will ask me how to grow their OnlyFans or be sexier, and I think it’s quite nice to have such respect.”
This doesn’t mean that Titus hasn’t contended with the perils of being famous online. While Lola worries about her admirers stalking her, Titus has a different concern—the haters who are out to destroy him.
IV.
“A challenge I continue to face is from people who leak my content. It’s just not cool, you know, imagine the hard work you put into your content—then people resell it, and you get no profit at all. It’s not fair.”
Titus faces a mounting backlash online. There are a few gripes the public has with his content on Twitter.
First, they think it’s too expensive. This accusation is lobbed by other OnlyFans creators with smaller followings. Typically, these are the people who help to leak his content from behind the paywall and circulate it around the internet
The second contingent of ‘haters’ is the lowkey sex workers and their allies, who argue that Titus’s braggadocious online presence draws undue attention to vulnerable communities who make a living in the legal grey area.
It’s the first group of haters who brought the police to his door.
“One of my haters made a police report. When they knocked on the door I was very confused. They asked me: are you aware your nudes are being circulated online? The police seemed very concerned that it was being spread through WhatsApp and Twitter, which I have no control over because haters keep leaking my content.”
Though he’s not been charged with anything, Titus had to follow the police to the station and surrender his phone and iPad—with all the passwords relevant to the platforms where his content is being leaked. Since the police are notorious for holding electronics at length and without updates, Titus bought a new phone.
I didn’t press for details on what happened as Titus’s lawyer has advised him not to comment about the incident directly. However, I’d wager that the police report alleges that the leakage of his OnlyFans content has violated some component of the Undesirable Publications Act, which enables the police to seize devices and issue search warrants with “reasonable cause.”
Put simply: Singapore’s pornography legislation is outdated. The current laws on distribution, creation and streaming don’t account for the rise in offshore platforms (which are paywalled and not publicly accessible to minors) like OnlyFans. Technically, anyone who creates obscene films in Singapore can be fined up to S$40,000 or jailed for 2 years on a first offence.
“It’s frustrating to be treated like I’ve done something wrong when I haven’t. I’m not doing any harm to anybody, why does that cause me trouble?”
V.
Though his profession is unorthodox, Titus’s dream for the future is ordinary. He wants to live in a big house with lots of space for his animals, and hopefully for a few kids to run around and play with their Dad. Though he’s young, it’s easy to see that Titus will be a caring and attentive father in the future. He’s well-tempered.
To achieve this, he’s focused on expanding his empire. He recently hired a manager to handle his YouTube channel, and shoulder some of the administrative burdens. If Singapore bans OnlyFans, he’s not opposed to moving his operations offshore. “Most of my followers are overseas, anyways.” He says with a shrug.
After we’re finished with the interview, we planned to follow Titus around through his daily life and take pictures of his activities. But the interview ran long, and he’s got evening plans—so we head to his condo gym and take staged photos of him working out.
To be fair, he’s a natural in front of the camera. He knows his angles, he takes direction well, and he understands that the process can be finicky and time-consuming. After we’re done shooting he reviews the photos. He looks pleased.
We get caught in a thunderstorm while running back to the lobby to wait for our cabs. As we’re dripping rainwater in the fancy lobby, the elevator opens. Titus has come down with some kitchen paper to dry off. “You know, he’s quite sweet,” Feline says as she wipes water off her glasses.
At press time, Titus has just launched his YouTube channel with 313 subscribers. Filmed in high definition, he’s perched on the edge of his bed wearing a Versace robe while wrangling his dog. The lights are low and a bit seductive. As predicted, his words are jumbled and his voice is soft.
His promise to prospective subscribers while baring a sliver of skin? He’s going to show you more of his life. I wonder who will stick around to see it.
