By Stacie Anthony and Chris Gardner
Before they were stars, Hollywood types like Lady Gaga and Brad Pitt had secretly sexy pasts. Click through to find out which beloved stars made ends meet by stripping, posing nude and other scandalous gigs before they were famous.
Chris Pratt
"I was always a very much naked person. I loved to always get naked. I was very free, so I thought, I may as well get paid." Makes sense, right? At least it did for actor Chris Pratt, who revealed in an interview with Buzzfeed that his pre-Hollywood résumé includes a stint as a stripper-for-hire. Chris, who was 18 at the time revealed that his gigs included a bachelorette party and his friend's grandmother's birthday party. "It was a surprise," recalls Chris. "I don't know how it got around to them, but they paid me $40. I was never like 'Magic Mike,' you know. I did go one time and audition on a stage for a club, but I don't think I got the job. I don't think I'm a very good dancer." Good thing he's a better actor.
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Talk about an odd job! Long before she found herself on Hollywood's A-list, Zellweger found herself serving cocktails in a Texas strip club. But the Oscar winner was intent on making it clear that she wasn't in the flesh business herself. "It was a classier club where the waitresses kept their clothes on," she has said. Classy.
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Carmen Electra
The former "Baywatch" babe has made a career out of showing a lot of skin, like her numerous Playboy pictorials and countless red carpet appearances. But before she became famous, the talented dancer reportedly danced for money in strip clubs. Brava to Carmen for not turning her back on her past — instead she turned her experience into an opportunity by creating her own line of stripper poles.
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Yes, Brad Pitt was a collegiate stripper! While attending the University of Missouri, Brad was an esteemed member of a Chippendales-style group, the Dancing Bares. And if you thought that was the best news you've heard all day, it gets better. Former Sigma Chi frat bro Thomas Whelihan dished that "when a girl from one of our sister sororities turned 21, the Bares would put her in a chair and come out butt-naked with pillowcases on their heads and do a choreographed dance for her."
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"I was working in strip clubs when I was 18," Lady Gaga confesses in an interview with Fabulous magazine. "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," she adds. Well it's apparent that not much has changed since her striptease days.
Thanks to the semi-autiobiographical film "Magic Mike," the world now knows that Channing got his start as an exotic dancer named "Chan Crawford" in a Chippendales-esque floor show called "Male Encounter" in 1999. And lucky for us, whenever we want to see what the hunky actor looks like in a thong, all we have to do is pop in the DVD.
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Thomas Jane
Prior to finding success in Hollywood — including his role as the well-endowed gigolo on HBO's "Hung" — Thomas chatted about his "sexually adventurous" past. "You know, when I was a kid out here in L.A., I was homeless, I didn't have any money, and I was living in my car. I was 18. I wasn't averse to going down to Santa Monica Boulevard and letting a guy buy me a sandwich. Know what I mean?" he told the L.A. Times.
To our surprise, the usually modest Amy was actually a Hooters girl. You heard us right! At the age of 18, the sweet star worked alongside other boobylicious, booty-short-wearing gals, just long enough to save $900 to buy herself a used Chevrolet.
When asked by Marie Claire about rumors surrounding his stripping past, Javier dished, "For a day! It was a disaster. And you know who was there watching? My mum and my sister!" Now that's embarrassing.
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From go-go dancer to amateur night to the reigning queen of burlesque, Dita Von Teese has definitely perfected the art of the striptease. But does this burlesque star plan to climb into her trademark half-filled martini glass and splash around forever? "Do I want to be 60 years old in a G-string?" she asked in an L.A. Times interview "No."
"Real Housewives of Atlanta," co-star NeNe is not embarrassed by her stripper past as the curvaceous "Silk." "I sold a fantasy . . . I felt very powerful," she spilled to Bravo TV. And that's not all; the reality-TV star also admitted she made quite a lot of money shimmying on that pole. "I thought of the men as an ATM machine. I gotta tell you, I liked it."
Mark Consuelos
Mark's equally gorgeous wife, Kelly Ripa, recently dished about her hunky hubby's go-go dancing past in an interview with Vanity Fair. Just like us, the mag wondered if she had ever seen pics of Mark in his "banana hammock." Ripa replied, "Oh yeah. I even have an old calendar pinup of him." Um, hello! We want to see them, too!
One thing about Kendra that we love is her honesty! Even though it was embarrassing to admit, Kendra confessed about her secret stripper past and problems with drug use in her memoir, "Sliding Into Home." Before moving into the Playboy Mansion at age 18, she worked in a strip joint. "I always knew that was wrong," she said while promoting her memoir. "I kind of lost myself for a little bit."
Amber Rose
After her infamous relationship with Kanye West ended, Amber took to the airwaves to divulge her spicy past. "I was a stripper since I was 15 years old," the former Ford model revealed on Jamie Foxx's Foxxhole Radio, adding, "I had two three-year relationships with women. So I was with women for six years before I met Kanye."
David Duchovny
Many forget that before rising to fame with "The X Files," David hosted the soft-core erotic Showtime series "Red Shoe Diaries" during the '90s. Even though there was no true story line that linked each episode, fans were guaranteed intense love scenes, nudity and a sultry soundtrack to match.
Vanessa Williams
After scandalous photos surfaced of Vanessa posing nude with another woman before her 1984 pageant win, the beauty queen felt pressure to resign as Miss America.
Anna Nicole Smith
Long before she graced the cover of Playboy or was married to J. Marshall Howard, Anna Nicole spent her days sashaying around a pole. A stripper pole, that is.
Eve
After photos emerged on the Internet of a scantily clad Eve with two other women onstage, the rapper confessed to Rolling Stone that she was an exotic dancer — even if it was for just a month.
After many years of speculation, photos finally surfaced confirming that Courtney Love was indeed a stripper. And at none other than Jumbo's Clown Room in Hollywood. Enough said.
Diablo Cody
Before winning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Juno," Diablo Cody recounted her experiences as an exotic dancer in her 2006 memoir, "Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper."