From Clueless to Conservative: Stacey Dash's Unlikely Hollywood Story

WASHINGTON – Actress and Fox News contributor Stacey Dash shot to stardom in the 1995 hit movie "Clueless." Then in 2012, she surprised Hollywood by supporting Republican Mitt Romney for president.

Now in her new book, There Goes My Social Life: From Clueless to Conservative, Dash is opening up about her turn to the right.

'There Goes Your Social Life'

The title of the book is inspired by one of Dash's lines in "Clueless."

In the movie, she plays Dionne, a popular and privileged high school student in Beverly Hills. When her friend makes a silly gym class comment about plastic surgery and getting hit in the face with tennis balls, Dionne quips, "There goes your social life."

Dash's personal social life took a big hit when she tweeted her support for Romney: "Vote for Romney: the only choice for your future."  

"When I came out as a conservative, I lost a lot of friends, got ostracized in Hollywood," she explained.

Twitter went crazy and the media quickly caught on, asking why would a black actress in liberal Hollywood endorse a conservative candidate?

"I've taken a lot of arrows and people have told me to keep my mouth shut," she said. "And I just say, 'No. I won't be scared into submission.'"    

Dash says her political beliefs come from her life experiences.

"I wrote the book because I believe that people think I'm Dionne, that I was born in Beverly Hills with a silver spoon in my mouth," she told CBN News.

No Stranger to Hardship

Dash grew up in a rough New York neighborhood and was no stranger to the hard knocks life.

"I was born to two drug addicted parents in the South Bronx and my life was not easy," she revealed.

Stories that stick out in her mind include her mother offering her cocaine, suffering abusive relationships, and almost aborting her son.

"I was there on the abortion table. I was so far along they had to put me under. So, I had the IV in my arm and I was crying," she said. "And at this point in my life I had forgotten God. I had stopped talking to Him."

Stuck in a broken relationship and doing drugs, Dash says she was in no place to have a baby.

"I cried out to God, 'You have to tell me what to do. I don't want a sign. You've got to tell me what to do,'" she recalled.

And He did.

"He said to me, 'Stacey, keep your son.' He even told me it was a boy," she said.  

Dash says she got up and ripped out the IV. But before she left her doctor did a sonogram.

"I saw my son's little pea-size heartbeat inside of me and I just thought, 'How could you consider taking this life that God has given you? That's part of you. He's you,'" she said.

Today Dash, who has been drug free since that day, is the proud mom of son Austin, who is now 25, and a daughter Lola, who is 13.

More Troubles Ahead

But there were still more struggles. In her book, Dash tells a striking story about one ex-boyfriend.

"He had been stalking us for three years so I finally got a gun. I had to move, literally, I can't even tell you how many times," she said.

And she wasn't afraid to use her gun.

"He found us, kicked the door in off the hinges, beat me up," she recalled. "My son was asleep upstairs and I ran upstairs, got my gun, loaded it and came downstairs shooting."

Dash missed but she says her ex got the message and never came back.  

As an outspoken supporter of the Second Amendment, some of Dash's words often land her in hot water. She also recently took heat for comments about getting rid of Black History Month and the BET Awards.

'God, I Surrender'

In her book, Dash talks about more abusive relationships and being mistreated by men.

"It was after a bad breakup and I was in a bad place and I had two children," Dash told CBN News. "I was not doing well and I just finally literally fell to my knees hysterical and said, 'God, I can't do it. You gotta help me. I surrender.'"

From there she says things started improving for her. That's when she got the courage to send the now famous tweet. And just as she reached the bottom of her bank account, offers started coming in.

Today Dash regularly appears on shows like "Outnumbered" and "Hannity" as a Fox News contributor. She gives all of the credit to God.

"I have to remind myself every day, 'surrender, surrender, stop,'" she said.

So what's next for Dash?

"You want to control everything, but I have to realize that God is the only one that can have control of my life 'cause I don't know where He's taking me," she said. "Only He knows. I have to trust."