Megan Barton-Hanson reveals she is PROUD of her stripping past – and plans to use her platform to help others

Megan Barton-Hanson has revealed that she’s proud of her stripping past, as she discussed the stigma surrounding sex work.

During her time in the Love Island villa, Megan openly discussed her past as a stripper.

Speaking to Mail Online months after making it to the final of the hit ITV2 series, Megan said, “It’s a very old fashioned view that you should be ashamed of sex work or not be proud of it but at the end of the day I earned my money and I wasn’t hurting anyone.”

 

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90’s Pammy Anderson vibes babehhh ❤️ BTS with @prettylittlething #Hollywood #pamelaanderson #mymilkshakebringsalltheboystotheyard

A post shared by Megan Barton-Hanson (@meganbartonhanson_) on Oct 4, 2018 at 8:49am PDT

“100% there should be less stigma around sex work… Guys will go out and sleep with loads of girls and get applauded but if a girl dances in her underwear she’s called a ‘sl*t’ and made out to be the biggest sl*g ever.”

The 24 year-old has also used her platform to openly discuss mental health, after revealing her struggle with anxiety.

“It makes me happiest to use my platform for something worthwhile. I get DMs from girls with anxiety, girls who work in the sex industry and I want to use my platform help people.”

She continued: “I wouldn’t say I see myself as an inspiration but I get messages from women of all ages, like older women who used to work in the sex industry and people who suffer with anxiety. It’s selfish in a way but it does make me feel better when I help people.”

 

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Today is world Mental health Day. I’ve put writing this off all day as depression and anxiety are still pretty raw for me and part of who I am. Mental health issues are more common than ever especially with the increased use of social media and the resulting feelings of inadequacy. It’s funny because a lot of the time it’s the people that appear strongest on the outside that can also be the ones suffering the most on the inside. You just don’t know what they are dealing with on a daily basis. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that it took so much just to get the mental strength for me to get out of bed and face the world each morning. A lot of People cant get their heads around why if I was so depressed and suffering from anxiety I would go on a reality show. For me it’s was a make or brake moment. Id suffered on and off with mental health problems since my teens. At the end of 2017/early 2018 was probably the lowest I’d ever felt. There were a few times that I just didn’t want to wake up, I had suicidal thoughts, and had even gone to my mum sobbing about what I should do as I didn’t want to be alive anymore. My way of coping was putting on a persona for social media, partying, earning money and buying half of Harrods! None of it helped, maybe for 5 mins it distracted me from what was going on inside but as soon as I was back in my flat on my own the negative thoughts and emotions would return. I was sad and lonely with it, my own mind working against me. I did some therapy and that helped me by providing techniques for coping in moments of crisis. I’m so lucky that the Love Island opportunity arrived when it did. I didn’t realise at the time what the impact of being away from it all in the villa would have on my mental state. I thought it would make me famous and I would earn lots of money and that would bring me happiness but actually it was more like a rehab retreat for me stripping everything back and forcing me to see what was most important in my life. Meeting people and experiencing them loving me not for the persona I was presenting online gave me strength and made me realise that I need to love myself more. (Continues in comments)

A post shared by Megan Barton-Hanson (@meganbartonhanson_) on Oct 10, 2018 at 1:38pm PDT