Legend: Kitten Natividad

Kitten Natividad: Featured Legend of Red Hots Burlesque

Our countdown to Burlesque Hall of Fame gets more and more exciting to know that we have a very special hug from this legend waiting for us. Red Hots Burlesque presents…

KITTEN NATIVIDAD

“If you feel alive and wonderful, burlesque is for you,” living burlesque legend and adult film star Kitten Natividad tells Red Hots Burlesque via phone. Famous for her 44-inch bust and notorious for being one of director Russ Meyer’s ladies on film and behind the scenes as his partner through the ’80s, Kitten Natividad began her dancing career at the age of 21. “I might as well have been a hooker,” says Natividad, whose mother didn’t speak to her for three years once she discovered that her daughter was a topless and bottomless dancer. In her 20s her boyfriend’s family looked down on her because of her career, even though Natividad supported some of his family. “Once I became a stripper, I chose burlesque, but not to have children,” says Natividad. “I was disillusioned to be a ‘normy.'” While performing, Natividad felt like a goddess with the Stage Door Johnnies that lined up to see her and the other dancers. She began appearing in porn films in the ’80s: “They wanted to use strippers because we won’t complain about running around naked.” Natividad retired at 50, with a career that could claim famously stripping for Sean Penn’s bachelor party before his marriage to Madonna, mainly because she was tired of living in a suitcase. These days, she owns apartment buildings and her family has come around to her past. Now 65, she could re-marry, but “I want to keep what I’ve got,” says Natividad. Her advice to today’s burlesque performers is to keep improving and go ahead and copy: “When I was dancing, I would sit in the audience and watch the girls… we took things from each other, borrowing and make it our own.”