Beautiful actress Gabourey Sidibe has never been one to hold anything back since we’ve come to know her, most recently the “Empire” star revealed how at one time she worked as a phone-sex operator to help make ends meet.
The actress, now 33, opens up about the experience in her upcoming memoir, “This Is Just My Face,” writing, “I was 21, couldn’t afford to go to school, and couldn’t get a job.”
In the book,, Sidibe says her therapist suggested she look into telemarketing as a job, but, “As soon as my therapist suggested ‘telemarketing,’ I heard ‘phone sex.’”
She didn’t have a lot of professional experience under her belt, so once she saw the gig didn’t require any, she was sold. The posting said the role included “base pay and the potential to make $15 per hour.”
“If a caller liked you enough to request you by name, you made $2 before you said hello,” the “Precious” star recalled.
Sidibe recognized that being a phone-sex operator played a role in preparing her for the emotional toll of being an actor.
“I’ve had acting roles that I felt demeaned me as much if not more than the phone sex calls,” she said. “I took those roles because it was my job to take them and because the relationships and experience I’ve gained will eventually allow me to create and play my own characters.”
