Entertainment
Javier Bardem leaves fans in shock: He was a stripper!
Celebrity, Oscar nominee, and lap dancer? Penelope Cruz's husband confesses that he was once a stripper
March 11, 2022 1:52pm
Updated: March 11, 2022 4:02pm
The award-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem never ceases to amaze with his charm and witty remarks. Yet time the Oscar nominee left his fans shocked when he confessed that he was a stripper in his youth.
The husband of actress Penelope Cruz was a guest star on the Ellen DeGeneres show this week. Bardem revealed his secrets during the interview, proving he is not a shy man.
The director, who was one of the first stars to attend a protest outside the Russian embassy in Madrid at the outbreak of military attacks against Ukraine, surprised the audience of the famous TV show. Javier said that he worked as an exotic dancer when he was twenty.
According to the Spaniard, it all started when on one occasion, he did a striptease as a joke to the wife of one of his friends, while they were partying in a bar. Upon seeing his body and his performance, the place's owner made him an indecent proposal.
He added that the nightclub owner asked him if he wanted to do that every Friday in exchange for payment since he had left the clients expecting more after such a show.
Barden accepted the proposal "because I was drunk," he confessed. However, when it was time for the big show, he was so nervous about taking off his clothes in front of a group of strangers that he needed the support of his loved ones, the actor said as he told this secret for the first time on camera.
In his first lap dance, the Vicky Cristina star was accompanied by his sister and his mother, who went to see him to encourage him.
During the conversation with Ellen, Javier said that the night of his debut as a stripper, there were no people in the bar, so his job as a stripper did not go well. Luckily, Barden turned to acting, a good change since he was even nominated for Best Male Actor at the 2022 Oscars for his role as Desi Arnaz in director Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos.
