Megan Barton Hanson has always been beloved by Daily Star readers after she walked into the Love Island villa in 2018 with nothing but confidence in her step, or so it seemed.
As the TV industry goes, she was portrayed in a darker light as the former stripper coming to take everyone’s man.
And while she certainly made her mark by scooping up Eyal Booker and ex-boyfriend Wes Nelson, Megan has proved she is so much more than that.
The 26-year-old is a strong female voice campaigning for many issues women are still fighting for to this day on her official Instagram, which has 1.8million people following her.
She’s vocal on everything from tampon tax to helping sex workers, as before she found fame she was a stripper herself – and she even got to show off her skills when she had to do a lap dance on Love Island.
Since the ITV show, she has also opened up on how she was actually really nervous and her lips were “trembling” behind the mask.
But what has the bombshell and those who worked with her said on her stripper days at a Southend strip club…
How she got into dancing
Megan Barton Hanson found fame on Love Island following her stripper days (Image: meganbartonhanson_/Instagram)
Before she became a stripper Megan was working in a law firm on minimum wage when she saw her first strip show.
After she saw her first strip show, she marched into the nearest club and asked for a job where she was then taught how to strip.
Speaking in a video posted to her Instagram account, Megan said: “My first ever strip was so daunting.
“I’m not gonna lie, I was so nervous and geeky at school, and even now to stand up and speak in front of a crowd of people I’d be terrified.
“Obviously to get up and take your clothes off and dance, I didn’t have any dance background, I danced like a dad at a disco.
“But I just knew I wanted to earn money and I wanted to really push myself.
“When I first went in I got a girl to show me what to do so I got a lap dance and then I did it back to her and copied and that was my first experience giving a lap dance.”
Her mum cried when she first told her
Megan stripped in a club in her hometown, Southend (Image: Facebook)
Megan’s mum is often in her Instagram Stories and it’s clear the pair are very close and her mother is now supportive of her work, but when she first told her mum she was stripping she cried.
During the same Instagram Live Megan said she kept her new job a secret from her parents but eventually told her mum, who was devastated.
She added: “At first I didn’t tell my parents I was stripping.
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“I told my mum I was gonna be a waitress in a strip club and she was like ‘Why Meg? People are gonna talk, it’s such a small area around here, people are gonna talk, don’t do it.’
“Then I came out with, ‘No I actually am stripping,’ and she started crying, and I was like, ‘Oh god.’
“After a week of working there, I’m really stubborn, I knew I was gonna do it.
“She could see how happy I was, I handed my notice in for my legal PA job and life just changed.”
Why she left stripping
The star now makes a reported £800,000 a month off of her OnlyFans (Image: instgram)
In 2018, while she was starring on Love Island, her former strip club boss Anna Grech cleared up the answer of why Megan left.
Anna described the new-found reality TV star as “stunning and polite” but says she was let go after she broke house rules.
The club director told The Sun: “She wasn’t sacked, but we have a rule.
“No one in my staff is allowed to get involved with the girls. Doormen, security, barmen whatever.
“She went out with one of the staff and I don’t agree with that, so she left.
“I didn’t sack her, if anything I told the staff to leave as the girls come and go as they’re self employed.”
Anna also claimed she thought Megan “felt awkward about it” and believes that is why she choose to leave off her own back.
The boss also said Megan was so popular with punters that the other girls would get jealous.
Anna said she worked at the club four nights a week and “was always punctual”.
What was she like as a stripper?
Her former boss said she is ‘stunning and polite’ (Image: Instagram)
Her former boss Anna Grech also opened up on her opinions of Megan and her time as a stripper at her club.
Speaking to The Sun in the same interview, Anna said Megan was “polite to the girls” but “kept to herself”.
Anna told the publication: “She was a very good dancer and had a lot of people coming in here for her.
“Sometimes she does every now and then come in and say hello, but she never mentioned about it (going on the ITV show).
“I was shocked when I saw her go in.”
She wants to go back to stripping!
She starred on Love Island in 2018 (Image: meganbartonhanson_/Instagram)
In May 2020 the dancer said she may return to her stripping days as she feels like it could help her with her confidence.
During an Instagram Live chat on her official account, she told her following – which is more than the population of Wales – how she is pining for her old job back.
She’s rumoured to be earning over £800,000 a month on OnlyFans but she feels the club will help her her on her self-love journey.
When asked about her days as a dancer before Love Island, Megan said: “That’s something I’d like to do actually. I want to get back into stripping.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
