Confessions of an 'Amish stripper': Woman who grew up in strict conservative sect opens up about how she endured years of abuse, drug addiction, and sex work after leaving the settlement at 17

A woman who grew up in a strict Amish settlement has opened up about how she endured years of abuse, drug addiction, and sex work after leaving the settlement - which she believes stemmed from her extremely sheltered childhood.

Naomi Swartzentruber was raised in one of the largest and most conservative subgroups of the Amish, known as the Swartzentrubers, which meant that she had to follow immensely strict rules regarding everything from the way she dressed to who she could talk to.

It also meant that she was never taught about sex, fertility, or reproduction, which resulted in many people 'taking advantage of her' after she decided to leave her community behind at age 17.

Desperate to escape the settlement after discovering the outside world as a teen, she moved in with a man almost double her age, who pressured her into having sex with him while also 'pimping her' out to his neighbor.

With no education and no one to turn to, Naomi worked as a stripper and prostitute for years, eventually developing a severe crack addiction that resulted in her falling into a 'deep hole' that she thought she would never get out of.

But she never gave up, and after years of devastation, Naomi has now completely turned her life around - eventually finding the love of her life, becoming a mother, and transforming her story into a successful book.

She spoke out about her harrowing journey during a recent appearance on Shelise Ann Sola's podcast, Cults To Consciousness - in the hopes that it may help others who may be struggling with similar problems.

While reflecting on her upbringing, Naomi told Shelise, '[The Amish] have very, very strict rules. 

'We have to wear long dresses down to our ankles and we have to wear a bonnet that covers our hair. It's super strict.'

She explained that she didn't have much time to play as a child because she started working on her family's farm at age four. 

They had no electricity or indoor plumbing, which meant they had to use an outhouse, and they only bathed once a week.

They also made all of their own clothes and harvested much of the food they ate.

'There were a lot of times when I didn't understand why we couldn't do certain things, like why I could only go to town once a year,' Naomi, who had 11 siblings, continued. 'But that's just how it was.'

Naomi explained that nobody 'talked to them' about sex, which left her extremely confused at times.

'We would ask, "Where did the baby come from?" [whenever my mom would have another kid], and my parents would say, "God blessed us with another baby," or, "The stork dropped it from the sky,"' she recalled.

'And it was strange to me that God which just bring us another baby, I didn't understand.'

She said she eventually figured it out after some of the farm animals had sex and then had babies soon after. 

'I remember talking to my sister and I was like, "Do you think that's how mom and dad have a baby?"' she recalled. 

But the extreme secrecy around the act only made her more interested in it - and she now believes that the 'lack of sex education' has a 'direct correlation' with the 'sexual abuse' that is growing in Amish communities.

'We couldn't talk about it, I had no one to turn to or to ask questions to or talk about these things with,' she revealed.

When she started her period as a young teen, Naomi said her mother was very vague about what was causing it - and that she didn't know it related to fertility until years after she left the community.

They also didn't use pads or tampons; instead, they ripped up pieces of towels and put them in their underwear. 

'We would roll them together and make them like a pad and we would pin them with four safety pins,' she revealed. 'It was awful.'

Naomi said she was extremely sheltered from the outside world, but at age 13, a non-Amish neighbor moved in and began teaching her about the things she was missing out on.

'She really opened my eyes to the outside world,' she said of her neighbor. 'Before that I was pretty content being Amish because that's all I knew. But once I got a little taste of freedom I just wanted to kind of go wild.' 

Soon, Naomi said she began to rebel by sneaking off to town or to nearby yard sales to buy items that were forbidden in the Amish community.

But she admitted that she was terrified that she'd go to hell for what she was doing.

'It was freeing and worrisome at the same time. I was taught if we do these things we go to hell,' she explained. 'I was always worried, like, am I going to go to hell because I want these things?'

One night, she snuck out in the middle of the night to meet a non-Amish boy - and she had sex for the first time. 

She recalled feeling 'so happy and excited' about it, but also terrified and riddled by guilt.

At 17, Naomi said she couldn't sneak around any longer, and decided to embrace her new interests even if it meant 'going to hell.'

'I really wanted to leave. Finally I was like, whatever, if I go to hell I'll just go to hell,' she explained.

'I didn't know when or how or where I was going at that point, but I knew I had to leave.'

Desperate to escape, Naomi said she begged a man who was delivering logs to her father's sawmill to take her with him - but he tragically took advantage of her instead of helping her.

Upon their first meeting, he brought her into her family's barn and 'made her give him a blowjob.'  

He then took her to live at his ailing mother's house. Naomi helped take care of the woman while continuing her 'sexual relationship' with the man, who was 16 years her senior and married.

'I felt powerless because I knew it was wrong but I didn't know how to say no to him,' she said of the relationship.

'I felt horrible because he was cheating on his wife. It was a pretty horrible situation looking back.' 

She claimed he also 'pimped her out' to his neighbor, adding, 'I didn't know what prostitution was at that point, I just thought his friend was being nice and giving me $20 for a blow job. 

'He was definitely grooming me but I had no idea what that was because I wasn't educated about sex or anything like that.'

Naomi said she eventually became determined to get away from him, but with very little education - the Amish finish school after eighth grade so they can work full time on the farm - her options for work were limited.

One of her friends suggested she try stripping, and while she was horrified by the idea at first, she decided to give it a go - and quickly found that it was something she enjoyed.

'[Stripping] was very freeing and empowering for me,' she told Shelise. 'I was able to express myself. 

'I felt so powerful and amazing when I stepped on the stage. I was the most shy little girl growing up, but something came alive inside of me on stage.

'It opened my eyes and my mind to many things that I had no idea existed before.'  

After becoming a dancer, Naomi was able to get back on her feet. She enrolled in college and began renting her own apartment - but unfortunately, she admitted that she ended up 'with the wrong crowd' who introduced her to drugs. 

She started by doing cocaine, followed by crack, and soon, things 'started spiraling out of control.' 

'I stopped going to work, I dropped out of college and that became my life,' she said. 'I knew it was wrong, I didn't want to do it but it had such a hold of me. 

'I felt so helpless, like I couldn't crawl out of that hole and it just kept getting deeper and deeper. 

'It was very difficult and I lost everything. And I started selling myself to support myself.' 

Things only got worse when she moved to Vegas to be with her new boyfriend - and their relationship quickly became unhealthy.

She said he would 'mentally abuse' her and 'brainwashed' her into thinking that 'no one else would ever want her.'

Finally, she found the strength to leave him, but she said she was left fearing for her life due to his horrific threats.

'I always felt like I had to look over my shoulders because of the threats that he made,' she explained.

'He claimed that he was going to hire his thug friends to beat me up and that they'd be outside of my home waiting for me when I got home.

'I was always kind of paranoid or worried that someone might hurt me. I didn't even feel safe at my own house.

'I had to stay at my friends' houses because I was so scared that he would come and hurt me or that someone would be outside my door. 

'He said he was going to beat me and break every bone in my body. I didn't know what he was capable of doing because he was crazy.'

Six months after the breakup, Naomi packed her things and relocated to California to live with a man whom she had met at the strip club, and immediately, she felt free.

While she and the man, who worked as a DJ, didn't last, she said he showed her a 'whole new perspective.' 

He introduced her to the world of music festivals and having fun in a healthy way, and it changed her entire life. 

'It was so much fun. I grew a lot through that relationship,' she reflected. 'That was probably the most growth I had since I left the Amish. It was a whole new world that I had no idea about.' 

In 2011, she decided it was time to 'change her life' permanently - and she gave up stripping and sex work for good.

She re-enrolled in college and got her medical assistant and X-ray technician license, which helped her land a job at a doctor's office.

During that time, she made a friend named Will, and she described their relationship as the first one that she had since leaving the Amish that didn't revolve around sex.

'There was nothing sexual about it [at first], I didn't even think he was my type,' she said.

'I was just so happy to just have such an amazing friend in my life finally, someone that was nice to me. It was wonderful.' 

She and Will eventually fell in love, and they now share a baby girl together, who was born in 2021.

Naomi went on to release a memoir, called The Amazing Adventures Of An Amish Stripper, in 2023.

She's been 'sober for a while now,' and 'has a pretty good relationship' with her Amish parents.

'I always felt like there was a light at the end,' she concluded. 'Throughout all these dark days, I always had hope that I would someday find the freedom that I was searching for and have the peace that I [longed for]. 

'I never gave up. I always had hope. I always tried to make the most out of every situation.

'I just hope that my story can inspire and give hope to others. There can always be light if you choose to see it and you always have a choice to change your life at any time that you want to. 

'You can make your life the way you want it to be, you just have to chose to do the right things. If I can do it, anyone can do it.'