Random Celebrities Used To Be Strippers (16 items)

(#7) Anna Nicole Smith
- Dec. at 39 (1967-2007)
Before Anna Nicole Smith ever posed in Playboy, she was a stripper. Smith got tired of working at Red Lobster while trying to support her 6-month-old son, Daniel, so she got a job stripping at the Executive Suite in Houston.

According to her mother, who was greatly displeased with her daughter's new line of work, Smith liked stripping more than she liked waitressing.
(#8) Diablo Cody
- 45
Diablo Cody, the brilliant writer who penned scripts for quirky Hollywood hits like Juno and Jennifer's Body, started out as a stripper. In fact, the writer, born Brook Busey-Maurio, continued to use her stripper name, "Diablo," well after she quit the business. Cody has also gone on record saying that writing is much more revealing than stripping ever was. She told The Telegraph:

I feel much more naked as a writer than I did as a stripper. When I was stripping, I felt pretty emotionally neutral because it wasn't a massive event in my life. But when I watch Juno, there are bits I can only watch through my fingers because I cringe at how personal it is.
(#6) Blac Chyna

Blac Chyna may be a business woman and reality star now, but before she got her big break acting in music videos, she was a stripper.

Rob Kardashian's ex returned to her roots in the summer of 2017 and reportedly got a gig hosting (not stripping) for LA strip club Ace of Diamonds.
(#9) Courtney Love
- 59
Courtney Love used her career as a stripper to help launch her band, Hole.

"To me back then, 300 bucks in a day was fine," she told LA Weekly. "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."
(#11) Eve
- 44
Hip-hop superstar Eve wasn't always the major star she is today. Two years before she hit it big, she was dancing in a Bronx strip club to make ends meet. She told Rolling Stone:

I don't regret it - I was eighteen and confused, going through personal problems. I did it for about a month, and I was glad I did it. It helped me find Eve, helped me get serious. It was depressing - a lot of those girls have three or four kids. I'd sit there and be like, "Eve, you don't belong here, this is not your world."
(#13) Kathleen Hanna
- 54
Punk pioneer Kathleen Hanna is largely credited for starting the riot grrrl movement of the '90s, but she also once had a career as a stripper. Hanna claims stripping was her second-worst job (shortly behind working at McDonald's) and had a campy act that let her dress up in costumes. She told The A.V. Club:

I had a lot of themes, like dancing to The B-52s wearing ’60s go-go boots. I had a leopard print wraparound thong outfit that I wore for "Black Cat" by Janet Jackson and I would crawl on the stage, but my really big move was "Papa Don’t Preach" by Madonna, where I would stick my stomach out like I was pregnant. And then, I would do "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J and I would fake-box. I was a total cheeseball. But I made money.