Adult star stripper makes unexpected career change

A once popular OnlyFans creator has ditched his life of debauchery in favour of more wholesome pursuits.

An Aussie stripper and adult content creator has made an unexpected career change, saying goodbye to a life of debauchery in favour of more wholesome pursuits.

Ash Edelman, who is a former bodybuilder, is now a trained Buddhist monk in Thailand and currently lives in Dubai working as a life coach, specialising in breathwork and meditation.

“I am a big giant bloke with tattoos who spent years bodybuilding, stripping, doing OnlyFans, and taking steroids,” Edelman told The Daily Telegraph.

“What I am doing now is completely the opposite. You see me in my robes, it is going to drag attention.

“People would watch me on OnlyFans and stripping because they wanted to see me with my d*** out because it gets them off.

“That is not helping anyone, that was just putting money in my pocket and making me feel like s*** where now, I am able to share content and it is changing people’s lives for the better.”

Ex-stripper Ash Edelman went to Thailand to train to be a monk. Picture: The Daily Telegraph

“A dark night of the soul”

Edelman first came into the spotlight in 2015 when he was living in London and competed on Britain’s Got Talent as part of the Forbidden Nights male strip group.

Now 35, he revealed that he hit a low point in his life at the end of 2023 and visited the iMonastery in Chiang Mai to learn how to become a monk.

“I had a dark night of the soul at the end of 2023 where I realised stripping wasn’t doing it for me,” he said.

“I was taking everyone’s energy, I was going back to drugs and drinking and sleeping around and it just wasn’t serving me.”

He said he was sick of living a life that didn’t help anyone. Picture: The Daily Telegraph

He went to iMonastery in Chiang Mai. Picture: The Daily Telegraph

No regrets

Although that life is behind him now, he claims to have no regrets about his past career choices, as they shaped him into the person he is today.

“It gave me a good understanding of people, people’s fetishes, and to be very accepting of everyone,” he said.

“Bodybuilding, I was prepping myself for 20 weeks to stand on stage next to 30 or 40 people to be judged by people I don’t know to tell me if I am good enough.

“With stripping, I had to learn to be confident within myself because I wasn’t a strong dancer.”

Despite putting that life behind him now, he says he has no regrets over his initial career choices. Picture: The Daily Telegraph

Monk life is ultimately not for him

Ultimately, Edelman decided that a full-time monk’s life wasn’t for him, but he says he is committed to travelling back to the monastery each year to reconnect with the practice.

“You can’t listen to music, you can’t watch movies, you can’t sing, you can’t dance, you can’t touch a woman, you can’t have a wife or a family, all of these sorts of things,” he explained, adding that he would like to be married and have a family one day.

“I realised living as a Theravada Buddhist monk for me long term wasn’t going to be the thing because I couldn’t stay living in a monastery following the 227 Precepts that haven’t changed in the last two-and-a-half-thousand years.”

He ultimately decided monk life wasn’t for him. Picture: The Daily Telegraph

A social media rebrand

On his new Instagram account, @consciously_ash, he shared some insights about what he’s currently up to, which includes one-on-one life coaching sessions and private breathwork and meditation classes.

He also runs a community on the messaging app, Discord, where he shares many of the lessons he’s learned throughout his various careers.

The group chat features tips on breathwork, nutrition, stretching, mindfulness, fitness, and meditation.

“I’ve been able to condense everything that I’ve learnt and put it into one space,” he said.

Originally published as Adult star stripper makes unexpected career change