Journalist Sarah Tressler Fired by Houston Chronicle for Stripping

ABC News' Felicia Patinkin reports:

Sarah Tressler, the Texas journalist outed this week for working as a society reporter for the Houston Chronicle by day and as a stripper by night, has been fired by the newspaper.

Tressler confirmed that she was fired in an interview with ABC News in which she said the newspaper let her go for not having told her supervisors about her off-duty dancing.

A rival newspaper took care of that task earlier this week; the Houston Press, after discovering a blog Tressler kept about her work as a stripper, published an article about her double life.

"The idea of somebody outing me seemed like it would be like such a mean thing to do that I never thought anybody would do it," Tressler said.  "I guess I was wrong."

By day, Tressler had mingled with well-heeled and conservative crowds at charity luncheons and galas, covering high society for the Chronicle, one of the nation's most prestigious newspapers.

By night, the journalist was working  in a world of 7-inch heels as an exotic dancer at high-end gentleman's clubs.  She said she has been moonlighting as a dancer "on and off" since 2004.

"The reason I started dancing -  it just boils down to money," Tressler told ABC News.  "The economy was bad and I couldn't get a job."

Tressler, who earned a master's degree in journalism from New York University in 2009, was not just dancing but also blogging about her double life.

"I worked from 1:30 to 11:30 last Thursday, which is long enough to hang out with some friends, make some new contacts, eat lunch and pull down about $750," she wrote on her blog, Angry Stripper.

Tressler's no-holds-barred blog included her take on everything from experiences with crying customers to men with "weird" foot and nipple fetishes to an over-excited man who hurled chewed up bites of food at her while he tipped her.  She posted under the author name sarahtress and shared pictures of herself in a "Slutty Claus" outfit.

In January, Tressler's freelance job at the Chronicle became full-time and her hours moonlighting as a stripper dwindled.  She thought her secret life was safe until she was outed by the Press.

"Yeah, I guess so," Tressler said when asked if she was naive in believing her secret would never get out.  "I just didn't really think that anybody would want to do that."

When asked for comment on the decision to report about Tressler's double life, Houston Press editor Margaret Downing said the decision came down to juicy journalism.

"We aren't prudes," she told "GMA."  "We're hardly very conservative about these things.  We have nothing against strippers.  It's a good story."

People who worked with Tressler told the Houston Press they are "furious" because Tressler would flaunt her "stripper money" in the office by showing up to work in high-end clothing. Staffers also alleged Tressler was living the double-life for the purpose of securing a book deal.

Tressler, who also works as a lecturer at her undergraduate alma mater, Houston University, told ABC News her former colleagues at the Chronicle wished her the best to her face when the news broke.

A spokesperson for Houston University declined a request from ABCNews.com earlier this week to comment on Tressler's "personal life" and whether her employment was in jeopardy.  The Houston Chronicle also declined to comment.

Tressler says she has no regrets about leading her double life.

"I had three jobs, I lost one of them and now I have two jobs," Tressler said.  "I was a stripper/reporter/professor and now I'm just a stripper/professor, and I don't think that's too bad."

ABC News' Alyssa Newcomb contributed to this report.