I was so shy mum and dad paid for me to strip!

Lucy Hawkins cowered as the girls stood over her.
“Witch! Witch! Witch!” they chanted.
Big-spectacled Lucy tried to keep her head down at school but still the bullies picked on her. Ugly geeky Lucy wanted to be a marine biologist, wouldn’t say boo to a goose and hoped the world wouldn’t notice her.
Finally she went to university, to study graphic design. Then one night she saw a poster advertising classes to learn burlesque.
She’d seen the women on the television, had watched in admiration. She wanted to do the classes, but was scared. That weekend she went home, told her parents and how she wished she was brave enough to do them. They were taken aback, hadn’t realised their shy daughter even thought that like. They were totally against it. Lucy didn’t have the cash, went back to uni dejected. But then she got a call from her mum. Her parents would pay for her to go to the classes.
Lucy was shaking with fear when she arrived. The teacher was gorgeous and she didn’t think she could ever do anything like that. But the other girls in the class were scared too and they all pulled together.
As the weeks went by her confidence grew, she changed the way she looked, met her boyfriend and started to feel great about herself.
Everyone noticed the difference in her, couldn’t believe it was the same shy Lucy. At the end of the course the class did a performance at a local club, they went down so well they got regular bookings. It’s all gone mad and Lucy now performs solo too although she juggles it with her studies.
Her parents were shocked when she told them she was performing, but they came to see her and are her biggest fans. Even her boyfriend loves her performances.
Lucy, who’s 21, said: “People see the photos of me from just a few years ago and can’t believe it’s me. I thought I was a nobody but thanks to my parents and my teacher, who I call my burley godmother, I’m a different person and I’m loving every moment.”