The woman who claims she had a ten-month affair with married Fox News correspondent Ed Henry is a veteran stripper who met the political journalist at a Las Vegas gentleman's club, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

Brunette beauty Natalia Lima, 42, performed steamy $2,000-an-hour routines for Henry in a private VIP 'Skybox' at Sapphire Las Vegas strip club, we can disclose.

The pair hit it off during their encounters at the popular venue and engaged in a secret love affair at luxury hotels when the veteran newsman visited Sin City.

Lima revealed her tryst with Henry - Fox New's Chief White House Correspondent - in a salacious kiss-and-tell with In Touch magazine last week, prompting the 44-year-old to take time off work in a bid to mend his relationship with his wife, NPR's Deputy Washington Editor, Shirley Hung, 46.

But while Lima was described in reports as a glamorous Las Vegas hostess and through friends claims to have met Henry five years ago during an innocent Twitter exchange, Daily Mail Online can reveal that in fact she is a long-time stripper and Henry was one of her clients.

Brunette beauty Natalia Lima, 42, performed steamy $2,000-an-hour routines for Henry in a private VIP 'Skybox' at Sapphire Las Vegas strip club, we can disclose

But while Lima was described in reports as a glamorous Las Vegas hostess and through friends claims to have met Henry five years ago during an innocent Twitter exchange, Daily Mail Online can reveal that in fact she is a long-time stripper and Henry was one of her clients

The pair hit it off during their encounters at the popular venue and engaged in a secret love affair at luxury hotels when the veteran newsman visited Sin City.

Lima - whose real name Natalie Albrandt - has since gone to great lengths to conceal her true profession and a close friend told Daily Mail Online that she is a celebrity stylist and a 'good Christian girl', denying any knowledge of a connection to Sapphire club.

But numerous sources at the club claim otherwise, revealing Lima has worked there for 'several years' and was seen there as recently as Friday last week.

One Sapphire stripper, who uses the stage name Aaliyah Cyn, told Daily Mail Online: 'There's around 400 girls working at Sapphire at any one time, especially on weekends, but Natalia has a locker in the same quad as me so I see her regularly to say hi to.

'She's a regular girl and has been there much longer than me. One girl told me she's been there more than five years.

'She's older than most of the girls and knows how to play the game. She comes in quite often, sometimes every night.'

Aaliyah said she recalls Lima openly telling other girls about her affair with Henry.

'I remember last year I overheard her talking about a guy she was seeing.

'It was about eight or nine months ago and I was in the locker room getting ready and doing my makeup.

This photo of Lima in a bikini alongside two other beauties was taken at the Sapphire Pool & Day Club – a sister venue which adjoins Sapphire and where strippers get 'wet and wild' with customers

'She was in there talking to one of her friends, she was telling her how she had this guy who was in politics, something connected to the White House, and said she was having an affair with him.

'She said she met him at the club as a client and started seeing him, but he never told her he was married.

'Natalia was saying she found out about the wife and confronted him. She wasn't happy and was telling her friend that he needs to be careful because she could expose him.

'I didn't pay much attention at the time but it looks like she carried out her threat.'

Group photos on Lima's Instagram page show Lima's connection with Sapphire.

She poses with several women identified to Daily Mail Online as fellow Sapphire strippers and she is also seen with the club's management team.

A photo of Lima in a bikini alongside two other beauties was also taken at the Sapphire Pool & Day Club – a sister venue which adjoins Sapphire and where strippers get 'wet and wild' with customers.

Sapphire club, a huge 70,000 sq ft, two-story establishment on Sammy Davis Jr Drive in Vegas, is popular with celebrities, including rapper 50 Cent, magician Criss Angel and boxers Floyd Mayweather and Mike Tyson.

Girls at the club offer lap dances for as little as $20 on the main floor or clients can opt for a VIP experience starting from $500 and going up to as much as $2,000 an hour in one of the club's ten deluxe VIP Skybox rooms.

A bottle of Champagne is part of the deal and that can bump prices up by thousands.

When Daily Mail Online visited Sapphire club over the weekend a manager confirmed that Natalia was one of the regular girls.

And another source at the nightspot, who asked not to be named, said: 'Natalia and Ed met in Sapphires and they went to the Skybox, I believe the relationship started in 2015 but I can't be sure.

'She was last in the club on Friday and said she feels like Monica Lewinsky since the affair was exposed.

'Natalia sometimes uses the stage name Evita and is very well known for having dated celebrities and I know she was seeing a famous singer and has dated some of the players from the Seattle Seahawks.'

Lima claims her and Henry first met five years ago, shortly after the newsman married his wife at Las Vegas' Wynn Hotel, but only embarked on an affair last year after she began 'to fall for him a bit' according to Lima's close friend, model Ana Braga.

Lima is part of the Vegas scene, here entering a chicken wing eating contest at Diablo's Cantina

a close friend told Daily Mail Online that Lima is a celebrity stylist and a 'good Christian girl', denying any knowledge of a connection to Sapphire club

But Braga claims to know nothing about Lima's stripping career and says she is building a career as a stylist.

She insists Lima is 'a good Christian girl from a good family' from the small town of Soap Lake in Washington and has been unfairly portrayed as a scarlet woman.

'I don't care who she sleeps with, that's none of my business, but the person I know is a very sweet, genuine Christian girl with good family values,' says Braga.

'She told me she didn't want to tell me [about the affair] because she didn't want to get me involved and because she used to style my shoots, she didn't want to break that business relationship with me either.

'I'm not here to judge anyone but it just doesn't fit with the person that I know.'

A bottle of Champagne is de riguer at Sapphire - and that can bump prices up by thousands

The Rio de Janeiro-born glamor model, 34, has known Lima, for more than four years and regularly works with her on fashion shoots – among them editorials for Cosmopolitan and Vogue Brasil.

She said: 'Natalia is a very sweet girl but very naive.

'I said to her, why didn't you call me before you did this? I would have talked her out of it. This is not good.

'She's now brought this to light, confirmed something and now she's exposed and people who don't know her are going to judge her and it's driving her nuts.'

In the interview with In Touch Lima detailed how her lengthy friendship with Henry turned sexual last spring after he invited her up to his room at the Wynn Hotel – the place where he married his wife.

'Whenever he was in town, we would pretty much just have sex,' added Lima. He has a really high sex drive.

'We were friends for a few years before we did anything, and a nice guy... a kinky nice guy.'

She also detailed his penchant for bubble baths and shared some of the explicit text messages the two exchanged, including one that contained emojis of unpeeled bananas and female lips.

Further texts exchanged by the pair included a message from Henry in which he exclaims: '[You are] so beautiful,' 'love that pic of you!!,' those eyes,' 'are u thinking right there about us making love?,' 'cause i am...,' 'i will make love to you over and over so that we can wear u out and sleep:),' 'now that i saw that old photo shoot of you...'

He then added: 'i cant stop think about watching [redacted] in my room ...:)'

In response, Lima then said: 'yes can't wait!!!!!!! We have a great chemistry. with no chemistry sex isn't good...don't u agree?'

Fox News said in a statement shortly after details of the alleged affair were revealed: 'We recently became aware of Ed's personal issues and he's taking some time off to work things out'

Henry then replied: 'i agree,' when i see you pic...,' i get [redacted].'

Lima claims she was left devastated when he broke it off– and says she feels 'used' by Henry.

Bizarrely Braga, who spent time with the erstwhile couple, claims Lima had no idea that Henry was so famous at first.

'She called me a few months ago to ask if I wanted to go for dinner and was like, oh, I've got a friend in town and he's called Ed Henry,' says Braga.

'I was like, oh shut up. I go, he's a journalist and he grills people. She was like, 'no, really? I've never seen him on TV'.

'She's very naive so I thought it was a joke. Then I got there and we had dinner and then I drove her home. I didn't notice anything inappropriate.'

She added: 'He's just a nice guy, he was laughing and making jokes. I even tried to talk politics a little but he probably didn't want to do it because of his job.

'He was just telling jokes and asking me to tell me about himself. It was just really silly, nothing bad or inappropriate.'

Asked if Lima still speaks to Henry, Braga added: 'She's not in touch with him anymore, that's all over. I don't think it was her choice though but it's all so fresh.'

Henry has been married to NPR editor Shirley Hung since 2010. They married in Las Vegas.