‘Sopranos’ star blacklisted from Hollywood over COVID vaccine has whole new outlook

Drea de Matteo is doing just fine despite her Hollywood banishment five years ago.

The “Sopranos” star voted for Joe Biden for president in 2020, but then refused the Covid vaccination a year later. Industry friends distanced themselves from her, project offers dried up and she turned to OnlyFans to make payments on her mortgage.

Fast forward five years, and the Emmy-winner has a whole new outlook. Sources tell Page Six Hollywood that de Matteo has signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to write a memoir. The actress, who played Adriana La Cerva on the HBO mob drama, will cover her unlikely arc that includes a bohemian New York City upbringing, a sizzling “Sopranos” run, becoming an Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stan and facing industry backlash for supporting Donald Trump.

Drea de Matteo at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. Getty Images for MTV

Drea de Matteo at the 52nd Emmy Awards. Getty Images

De Matteo is staying mum about the book, but she did offer some perspective on why she supported Trump in 2024. “I was never political in my life. I was against the entire f–king system forever, both sides. I knew it was theater,” she explains. “But I was excited that Kennedy would be in the administration somehow because Trump made that clear.”

Ultimately, the “Sons of Anarchy” alum flipped the script on her pariah status. In addition to the book, she also launched “The Ultrafree Podcast” today. (Here’s a teaser.) According to marketing copy, “Ultrafree Podcast” will feature “unscripted conversations with artists, dissidents, whistleblowers and independent thinkers.” (De Matteo is producing the show with Rainbow Creative, the company behind “Being Jewish With Jonah Platt.”) 

Even with two new projects in the works, she isn’t abandoning her Ultrafree streetwear line or her lucrative OnlyFans account, both of which she calls a political statement. Meanwhile, the podcast is expected to be more MAHA-friendly than MAGA-targeted. But the unfiltered star hopes that the show also might appeal to industry colleagues who cut ties with her over her politics.

Says de Matteo: “I just hope to capture my old fanbase and the minds of some of my friends that were like, ‘What the f–k happened to her?’”