WORDS OF A CHIPPENDALE
By
Ekua Hagan
Meet Troy Kline, an ex-Chippendale dancer who lived what should have been
a fantasy-taking his clothes off for thousands of screaming women. But
when the lights went down and he was left to reflect, he realized he was
a shell of the person he used to be. What do you do when you're a male
stripper who's losing his dignity? Whose big break has turned out to be
a trap? We got troy to discuss a little of what went on-as for the rest,
we'll have to read it in his biography, Chippendale's ... The Naked
Truth.
WHEN YOU WERE PRESENTED WITH THE CHANCE TO BECOME A CHIPPENDALE DANCER,
WHAT WAS IT THAT MADE YOU WANT TO DO IT?
Originally I saw it as an opportunity to further my singing career-just
the opportunity to sing for three to five thousand people every night all
over Europe.
HOW'D YOU GET THE JOB?
I had to go through about four months of auditioning and beat about
10,000 people for the position. I would send them cassette tapes and
videotapes, and then I went there for a month and trained, and sang for
them and danced. So it was just a long process. And I just kind of took
it one step at a time, never really thinking it was going to happen.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE DOING YOUR VERY FIRST PERFORMANCE?
The first show was a blast. It was in Copenhagen, and there were
probably 3500 women that night, and of course there were a lot of
mistakes, but it was a blast; it was great. It was overwhelming; I
couldn't believe it.
WAS IT UNCOMFORTABLE STRIPPING YOU FIRST TIME OUT?
I was their lead singer, so I would go out there with no shirt, but it
never went beyond that. So I didn't feel too uncomfortable doing that.
I READ THAT THE DANCERS ARE A MIX BETWEEN GAY AND STRAIGHT-WHAT'S THE
RATION?
When I was touring Europe, there were three groups of 17 touring, and in
my group of 17, three out of the 17 were gay, including my roommate-which
is a whole other issue in the book.
ARE THERE ANY HOMOPHOBIC ATTITUDES AMONG STRAIGHT DANCERS WHO FEEL
UNCOMFORTABLE STRIPPING WITH THE GAY DANCERS?
Actually most of them were really cool with it' it was a really
close-knit family. In my particular case, I grew up with an extremely,
extremely religious, sheltered, conservative upbringing-Pentecostal. I
don't know if you're familiar with that denomination at all, but [the
attitude is that] homosexuals are to be avoided at all costs, and this
and that. So I grew up extremely homophobic, and when I got thrown into
this situation, I freaked out. We got into huge arguments, and one fight
after a show (the book goes into all this), but eventually we became
friends and my attitude about the whole thing changed.
WHAT WAS THE DRUG SCENE LIKE?
I saw it all ... steroids, a lot of pot, coke, you know, it's all there.
It's in your face 24 hours a day.
AND HOW DID YOU GET OVER YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WHILE ALL THIS WAS GOING
ON?
Just kind of threw it out the window. The book is really about going
from one extreme to the exact opposite, and then finding somewhere in the
middle, my moral, my values, my ethics.
FROM WHAT I'VE READ, IT SEEMS THAT THERE'S A LOT OF PRESSURE ON
CHIPPENDALES TO LIVE UP TO A SUPER-STUD IMAGE IN BED. HOW DID YOU FEEL BEING CRITICIZED
WHEN YOU DIDN'T PERFORM UP TO EXPECTATIONS?
Well, to tell you the truth, I never had that problem! [Laughs] I'm
being quite honest with you.
THAT'S FUNNY ... ACTUALLY, I ONLY ASKED BECAUSE I SAW THAT WAS PART
OF ONE OF THE BOOK'S PRESS RELEASES.
Yeah, they stuck that in-I never said that. But yeah, I never had a
complaint, never had a problem, I had a great time with every sexual
situation I got into, to tell you the truth. [Laughs} It was all fun to
me.
LET'S SEE. OKAY, THERE WAS SOMETHING ELSE IN THE PRESS STUFF THAT I
READ-THAT YOUR CROTCH WENT NUMB FROM WOMEN SQUEEZING IT SO MUCH.
I have no idea where that came from.
REALLY?
Well, you do get groped all the time, but I never said that. There is
one story in the book though where I go out to the first row to sing-you
know, I get right in their face and I start singing-and I get attacked by
the entire front row, and they're tearing my clothes off. Security was
pulling women off, and by the time they were done puling everybody off, I
was just, like, stark naked with scratches all over me. It was quite an
interesting scene.
WAS IT FRIGHTENING, JUST EXCITING, OR ...
It was very frightening, yeah. But not I can look back at it and laugh.
WHAT WERE SOME OF THE RULES AND REGULATIONS WHEN IT CAME TO CHIPPENDALES? I
MEAN, IT'S NOT A NUDE SHOW, IS IT?
Well, they never actually show the penis, you know? They'll show bare
butts, they'll show hands covering the penis ... they'll do everything
but that.
AND ARE WOMEN ALLOWED TO TOUCH THE DANCERS?
Well, in our particular case, there were three to five thousand women a
night, so no women were allowed on stage-it wasn't like a strip and tip
or anything like that. But I would go in the audience and sing, and I'd
sit right on their laps, you know?
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOUR SADDEST MOMENTS WERE AS A DANCER?
Um ... I think after I'd get into a really, really bizarre situation,
and again the book goes into this-orgies, you know, just total
degradation of women-I would stay in that situation because it was so
fascinating to watch or be a part of. But then afterward, I couldn't
believe I was involved in something like that, and I became very sick
with myself, you know ... disgusted with myself. And that was probably
the worst.
AND AT WHAT POINT DID THINGS START TO FALL APART?
Three quarters of the way through the tour, I just started to get all the
guilt from my religious upbringing and it just caused an enormous amount
of depression. I would look at these guys who had done this for six,
seven years, who were just total burnouts and had no respect for women at
all ... and I can't say that at the time I had very much either.
[Chuckles]
SINCE YOU WERE ALREADY HAVING SERIOUS MISGIVINGS ABUT BEING A DANCER. THEN,
HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN THEY TERMINATED YOU ANYWAY [FOR DRUG/ALCOHOL ABUSE]?
Well, I felt really bad about it at the time. There was a break in the
tour and I came on my way, I think, to inner peace. I would love to have
a relationship at some point in the near future, and just share all this
with somebody. I feel good. I've worked very, very hard on myself on
the last three years.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHER MEN WHO ARE THINKING ABOUT GOING INTO
STRIPPING?
I'd say tread lightly if you're really sure you want to do that-I mean,
it can be a really fun opportunity, but you have to make sure you're
mentally prepared for that, and I don't know if anybody can be mentally
prepared. It's so mind-boggling. A good example of what showed me what
I was about to get into is the day before we left for Europe from L.A.,
management brought in two 50-pound hefty bags full of condoms. And I was
like, "Oh, my god." So I would just say, if you do it, don't do what I
did, you know? That's basically the moral of the book. Just make sure
you're mentally prepared for that, and that you can handle it. Every guy
thinks that it would be his fantasy, but it's pretty overwhelming. It's
too much.
ARE MOST DANCERS ABLE TO HANDLE IT?
Well, they think they are, but I don't think so. [Laughs] Not what I
witnessed-you start to get an enormous disrespect for women, you treat them like a piece
of meat, like an inanimate object, and you're just fucking.
DO YOU REALLY THINK STRIPPING CAN CORRUPT SOMEBODY THAT ALREADY WASN'T THAT
TYPE OF PERSON?
Well, I think I'm an example of that. I wasn't promiscuous before, and now I'm at
the exact opposite again-I haven't dated a girl for 2 1/2 years.
HOW WAS THE DATING SCENE FOR YOU AFTER YOU STOPPED DANCING?
For a while I continued the same actions, because I still had that attitude; I'd go out
and pick up women and stuff. The depression just continued, and then I started
counseling. Now at this point I don't date at all, although I'd like to. I'd
like to get back into it ... I think I've become a hermit too much.
WHY IS IT THAT YOU DON'T ASK WOMEN OUT NOW?
For one, I'm extremely particular, and I don't want that to sound conceited. It's
just at my age, I don't want to get involved in something that's just a waste of time.
I'm not into casual dating anymore. I'm going to date, I want it to be a
relationship that's gonna last.
HAVE YOU DISCUSSED YOUR DANCING WITH PEOPLE YOU'D DATED AFTER YOU
STOPPED?
I guess from now on I'm just going to have to hand them the book and say, 'Here's my life;
if you still want to go out with me, give me a call."
[Laughs]
ARE YOU NERVOUS ABOUT THAT?
A little bit, yeah. It's explicit. The only thing I say to people is that if
you read it, please read the whole thing-don't get halfway through and go, "Oh my
God! Forget this!"
WHAT ARE YOU MOST AFRAID OF AS FAR AS YOUR FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS WITH
WOMEN ARE CONCERNED?
Preconceived judgements. But I guess it would be an accurate preconceived
judgement-that we were all sluts, I guess. [Laughs]
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR LIFE NOW?
I'm really happy with my life now. I'm well, back to the States for two
months, and then I was supposed to go back to England. And I had really
done a whole attitude adjustment. I was going to go back, do the job, and
not worry about all the partying and stuff afterwards. I kind of had a
new attitude about the whole thing, and so when I called to see when I
was going back and they told me I wasn't, at first it really bothered me.
Plus I didn't know what I was going to do; I mean, this was my big
break, so it caused enormous amount of depression.
CONGRATULATIONS. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME OUT TO
TALK.
I appreciate you giving me the opportunity. Thank you very much.
