Everyone has a past but not everyone’s is a cheeky as these A-list stars…
@Getty Images: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic, Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
It’s no secret that there’s no such thing as an overnight success, even those celebs who you think hit the big time with very little effort will no doubt have a plethora of rejection stories that would make you squirm. But for some, their god given talent of shaking their booty stood them in good stead for another form of employment that had the flexible working hours required. Ironically those flexible hours also required said employee to be literally flexible enough to master a pole. Yes, stripping, exotic dancing, call it what you will, some of your fave A-listers were once rolling around in the cash albeit on the floor.
Amber Rose
Kanye West’s former flame Amber Rose can’t speak any more highly of her time as a stripper, saying, ‘[It was] the best f–king time of my life. Miss the pole. Got a pole in my fcking house. Getting drunk before you go out there – it was a whole moment.’
Rose who stripped from the ages of 18-25 is vocal about destigmatising stripping as a career. ‘
Oh my god, I had so much fun. I really did. All the girls were really cool. The guys weren’t allowed to touch you. I was never sexually assaulted or [anything]. I was young, beautiful, I was onstage, I wasn’t really ashamed of my body. I made lifelong friends.’
Kendra Wilkinson
Famed as a one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends, Kendra Wilkinson, star of former reality show, Girls of The Playboy Mansion cut her teeth as a stripper before entering the world of reality star fame. At 18-years-old Kendra said she wanted to see how much money she could make as a stripper, reportedly making $500k before she left the business. She said, ‘I’m just like a free spirit, I wanted to see how much money I could earn. I like to party. I like to have fun.’
Blac Chyna
Blac Chyna began stripping to save money for college tuition. Even after enrolling, she continued dancing to cover expenses, though balancing school and work proved difficult and she eventually left university. Encouraged by her mother — who had also worked as a stripper — Chyna committed to it full-time. Working at Miami’s famed King of Diamonds club, she reportedly earned up to $15,000 in a single night. With an estimated net worth of around $10 million today, she has said that if fame hadn’t found her, she might still be in the club.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga is famous for being a multilayered artist so it comes as no surprise that when she worked as a stripper before she became famous, she wasn’t an average stripper. Gaga explained, ‘I didn’t show too much – I was a burlesque dancer. Because my family’s European, for me it wasn’t that weird and I didn’t do anything super seedy – although my dad didn’t think so.’
After dropping out of art school, Gaga worked as a waitress but said, ‘I made more money stripping than waitressing.’
She did however continue to work as a waitress in the day and a stripper at night. ‘My act was pretty wild. I’d wear black leather and dance to Black Sabbath, Guns N’ Roses, and Faith No More. Very rock ‘n’ roll.’
Gaga’s now worth a reported $320million so those burlesque costumes are probably gathering dust.
Cardi B
Before topping charts and dominating the rap scene, Cardi B was upfront about working as a stripper while chasing her music dreams. Determined to make it in the industry, she used the job to cover her bills and invest in her budding career. By the age of 20, she had reportedly saved $20,000 from dancing — money that helped her take the next steps toward stardom. Now with an estimated net worth exceeding $100 million, Cardi has never shied away from her past. When critics questioned why she mentions it so often, she explained that it’s about challenging stigma and demanding respect — not just for herself, but for other women with similar histories. Her message is clear: someone’s former job doesn’t define their intelligence or their potential. When responding to people questioning her vocal stance on her past she said,'”People say, “Why do you always got to say that you used to be a stripper? We get it.”‘
Adding, ‘The answer to the question is because y’all don’t respect me because of it, and y’all going to respect these strippers from now on… Just because somebody was a stripper don’t mean they don’t have no brain.’
Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum turned his insane dance ability and former employment as a stripper into one of the highest paid franchises existing today. If you haven’t seen Magic Mike then you’re probably not breathing. In his professional stripping days, which began when he was the tender age of 19, Channing was known as, ‘Chan Crawford’ and while retelling the story of his stripper past has made him millions, he says he doesn’t miss those days.
‘I don’t miss anything about stripping,’ He said, ‘I stripped in Tampa for like, 25 girls, at best. It wasn’t glamorous whatsoever, so there’s nothing that I miss about stripping.’
He has also notably said that he doesn’t regret it and is in no way ashamed of his past. While stripping in Magic Mike has been incredible lucrative, Tatum said the reality was very different, ‘On a good night, I made 150 bucks. On a bad night, 70 bucks – even 50 at times.’
Nene Leakes
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star wrote of her stripping past in her memoir, Never Make the Same Mistake Twice saying, ‘With every piece of clothing I took off, the more I got my life back,’ she went on, ‘I worked this body like a well-oiled machine, and every movement got me closer to my goal of financial independence for me and my child.’
Dancing under the name, ‘Silk’ Nene said, ‘I remember going home and having something like $1,000 and thinking, “I made $1,000 in one night. Baby, we are doing this tomorrow night.”‘
The money she made enabled her to pay her rent and bills but now the entrepreneur is worth an estimated $15million.
Courtney Love
Before fronting the band Hole, Courtney Love worked as an exotic dancer at venues including Los Angeles’ Jumbo’s Clown Room. Earning around $300 a day, she used the money to help fund her music ambitions. She later reflected that the income allowed her to invest directly into her band’s early needs, helping to launch the career that would eventually make her a rock icon.
‘To me back then, 300 bucks in a day was fine,’ adding, ‘I was able to do the kind of stripper economy which is for every five dollars I made, I would give Eric Erlandson three of them and that’s how we bought our van and we bought our backline.’
Javier Bardem
Perhaps one of the most unlikely stars who have admitted to a past life as a stripper is Javier Bardem. But it might be because his career in the professional stripping world was so short lived. When Bardem was hired to perform as a stripper, his supportive family came to cheer him on, which turned out to be incredibly ill-advised. ‘It was a disaster,’ he said in an interview with Ellen Degeneres.
‘And you know who was there watching? My mom and my sister. It was kind of a thing – you go there and dance, they pay you some money.’
If news of a Javier Bardem stripping gig were to be advertised now, no doubt legions of fans would be there but that sadly wasn’t the case all those years ago for the then twenty-year-old. Javier explained he was dancing to Leave your hat on, ‘There was nobody. I think there were, like, three people there. It was very embarrassing, but I did it. I mean, I’m a performer and I gave my word. So I was a stripper for a day.’
Chris Pratt
Before he was a Guardian of The Galaxy, Chris Pratt was guarding a particularly hot body against screaming fans. Among the other jobs that helped to pay the bills, Chris was a waiter, a babysitter and an odd job man, he was also a stripper. He said, ‘I was always a very much naked person.’
Chris continued, ‘I loved to always get naked. I was very free, so I thought, I may as well get paid.’
For one particular gig Pratt performed at a grandmother’s birthday for the heady fee of $40. Admitting that he was never Magic Mike because he wasn’t ‘a very good dancer’, he now just has a bank account boasting just a teeny tiny, $100million.
WATCH: EXCLUSIVE: Leanne Amaning and Scott van-der-Sluis chat with Closer about their All Stars experience