The celebrity secrets of Sydney’s sex industry as insider lifts the lid on the household names and underworld identities who frequent brothels – and the one sports star who surprised her

After 20 years in the sex industry, there’s little that surprises *Emily anymore.

From 15-hour bookings with some of Sydney’s most feared underworld figures to entertaining some of the country’s most popular national heroes and sporting icons, she’s seen it all.

Now the sex worker, in her late 30s, is sharing her story in an attempt to demystify the profession and dispel some popular misconceptions about life as a working woman.

“I will never forget my first meeting with an athlete,” she said.

‘I was sitting in the living room after a major sporting event that had made headlines, and in walked the man who had been central to the winning team.

“It was the first time anyone tried to get me to use cocaine.”

Emily said many sports icons assumed the women didn’t know who they were.

“Another athlete tried to tell me he worked in real estate, not knowing that I watch football on Friday nights,” she said.

“I said, ‘Oh yeah, did you break your nose selling houses? I know who you are, mate.'”

She said that for many men it is normal to have a young family or a pregnant partner at home.

Emily admitted she was surprised by the behaviour of a footballer who often appeared in the media for the wrong reasons.

“He was portrayed in the media as an idiot, but in reality he was a real gentleman,” she said.

‘He only booked blondes and he would regularly book a friend of mine. He would always say, “Hi honey, how are you?”

‘A sweet, polite person. The complete opposite of how he was portrayed in the press.

‘Even as a customer, no one had a bad word to say about him. He never pushed boundaries, he was never difficult.’

However, it wasn’t just sports stars who frequented the brothels of the eastern suburbs, where Emily spent much of her career.

“When I was working in Bondi a big name came in,” she said.

Let’s say they were on television, very prominently.

“He looked me straight in the eye and I think he knew that I knew.”

Emily said that for many men it was normal to have young families or a pregnant partner at home

Emily said sex workers were not forced to sign confidentiality agreements, but that they did not talk about their clients out of “basic human decency.”

“We would further undermine the integrity of our industry if we were seen as women who cannot be trusted with the sanctity of the men who come in and contribute to our business,” she said.

Yet she often felt unsafe.

“I’ve done 15-hour bookings with some of Sydney’s biggest underworld figures and it was traumatic,” Emily said.

You can’t predict what’s going to happen.

‘A guy, let’s call him T, booked me and we had a 15 hour party.

‘The next morning his mother, who lived nearby, came in unannounced. I was shocked.

But he said, “Do you know how many sluts my mother has met?”

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I would rather, ma’am, get paid to be here.’”

Later, when “T” was released on bail for gun-related offenses, he sent Emily to a mansion where he was holed up.

“He was terrified that the police would come and he stood by the window the whole time looking through binoculars,” she said.

‘All of a sudden he said, “Oh my God, they’re coming,” and he rolled up a piece of cocaine in a bag and put it in my vagina.’

The paranoia was misplaced at that moment.

But perhaps it was understandable, given that he had narrowly survived an assassination attempt.

“When you see these people change, you literally see the devil come out of them,” Emily said.

“You have to be very smart in the way you play it.”

Emily emphasizes that the average person would be surprised by the type of people now entering the industry.

“Nursing is a profession with tremendous overlap,” she said.

‘They are actually very good sex workers. They have a high level of empathy, they are not disgusted by bodily fluids.

‘Teachers too. Often they are people who simply do not get paid enough.

“Office workers who work nine to five all week and then go to the salon on Saturday night and make a thousand dollars.”

Teenage girls are also moving into the industry in droves, Emily says.

‘They literally show up on their 18th birthday.

“I think the McDonald’s generation, with the rise of social media and the consumer industry, with all those quick dopamine hits, wants it all now and some girls are striving for a lifestyle that they know they can get to quickly through sex work.”

Emily often works with the parents of these girls to break the stigma and reduce their fears.

“As I always say to these girls and their parents, ‘Listen to an old, bored whore like me, it is possible to get out,’” she said.

She added: ‘I overdosed on cocaine. I had seizures. I’ve almost died so many times that I think if I can break free from this and show other people that there is hope, I’m going to do it.

“I feel that sharing a struggle creates solidarity and that after everything I’ve been through, I have nothing to fear.”

*Name has been changed for privacy reasons