Former male exotic dancer of 25 years shares journey in the industry and life lessons

Corey Hilton spent 25 years as a male exotic dancer across Canada and the United States and climbed to the top of his industry very quickly.

Throughout his career, Hilton says he began to overcome his self-worth struggle through introspection and authenticity. The now-Kelowna resident says he became liberated by taking off the layers long after he chose to put his clothes back on.

Hilton has written a biography titled 'Take It Off' sharing a raw and unfiltered look into the oily, muscled up world of male exotic dancing.

"It was just my past — I didn't think of it as something that could help others out. So at the end of the day, when I had actually written all of these stories and put it down on paper, I went to a publisher in Kingston, Ont. and she said 'Corey you have an amazing book here, but it can be so much more if you inject your emotions and core values into it.'"

Hilton broke into the industry at 17 years old after starting as a shirtless waiter at a nightclub.

"I went through struggles. Just because I was up on stage, there were relatable struggles of divorce, I went through drug addiction and sex addiction. I went through a lot of different stuff that people out there do. I just quite frankly saw it through a different lens. The guy that you thought maybe was up on stage and had all the confidence in the world... guess what, he had all the same struggles that you did dude. Just in a different way."

At 43 years old, Hilton retired.

He says some of his strongest memories in the industry happened on nights when nothing went according to plan.

"We were just up on this weird stage where it was risen up and they had scaffolding material and they had this dance floor below. So I was doing this one move and I was spinning, spinning, spinning across the dance floor. I used to plant my one foot and kind of look in the other direction and just kick it out of that move. So I go to plant my foot and I missed the stage. So I hit the very edge of it, and dragged my ankle. I went straight down scrapped the inside of my leg, bounced my crotch off the stage, flipped over landed six feet down. I'm laying there bleeding and the whole place just went dead silent."

Hilton says the goal of his book is to inspire others and share the value of self-worth.

"It really is for anybody, but I always promote anyone over 30 because I think that to be able to truly relate to some of the struggles that I went through, you have to fall on your face a few times. You have to fall on your face, get back up and overcome the obstacle and so if you have done that then you can relate to what I am saying."

"My literal tagline in the book is let the dam break before you damn break dude," he added.

For more information or to buy the book, visit https://www.coreylainehilton.com.