Before making it big in Hollywood, some stars were strippers for a weekend, a few months, or several years.
to prepare for her role in the 2019 film.
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"I gave lap dances to strangers," the actress said during an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in February 2020. "I made 600 bucks my first night!"
Wu also said that her first-hand experience "helped me to know that feeling — because you can't duplicate it — [of] the first time you walk into a club and say, 'Hey, I would like to have a job here,' and then you go work that night."
after she was discovered at a strip club.
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During an episode of VH1's "Behind the Music," Eve explained that exotic dancing led to her music career after rapper Mase met her.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Eve added that she doesn't regret being a dancer.
but before fame, she was a stripper.
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Gaga attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, but dropped out and moved out of her parents' house. To support herself, she worked as a waitress during the day and a stripper at night.
"My act was pretty wild," she said, according to News of the World's Fabulous magazine. "I'd wear black leather and dance to Black Sabbath, Guns N' Roses, and Faith No More. Very rock 'n' roll."
in college.
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In 2012, it was revealed on the MTV show that Sorrentino was once an exotic dancer who went by the name "Vito Durado."
When Sorrentino tried to show off his moves for his fellow "Jersey Shore" stars, they weren't too impressed.
"Mike really has no moves and I'm starting not to believe that Mike used to do this for a living," Paul "PaulyD" DelVecchio said.
and called out double standards.
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Rose tried stripping at 15 years old, but stopped and revisited the job when she was 18. Speaking to Cosmopolitan in 2015, she proudly stated that stripping "was the best time of my life."
"I had so much fun," she said. "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."
got talked into stripping.
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According to Kelly Ripa, Consuelos' wife of more than 20 years and cohost of "Live With Kelly and Ryan," the actor was a stripper before landing roles on shows and movies.
"A lot of hot guys in Hollywood have done that," Ripa told Vanity Fair in 2012.
so she could pay for her education.
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Before being an entrepreneur (and wrapped up in drama with the Kardashians), Blac Chyna was a stripper in an effort to save up for college. When she started attending Johnson & Wales University in Miami, she continued pole dancing — but realized that she couldn't dedicate enough time to her job and her classes.
After dropping out, Chyna started dancing full-time.
but he had several odd jobs to make money when he was younger.
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Fans of Pratt probably know that he spent some time living in a van in Hawaii. In addition to jobs as a babysitter, waiting tables, and mowing lawns, Pratt was also a stripper.
"I was always a very much naked person," Pratt told BuzzFeed in 2013. "I loved to always get naked. I was very free, so I thought, I may as well get paid."
Pratt added that he was paid $40 to perform at a grandmother's birthday party.
and was a stripper for a few months.
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Shortly before Wilkinson entered the Playboy Mansion at 18 years old, she was a stripper.
When Wilkinson competed on the UK show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" in 2014, she revealed more details about her former job.
According to Wilkinson, she started stripping because she wanted "to see how much money I could earn."