A former sex addict has confessed to bedding two or three men a week at the height of her addiction, and blames Instagram for giving her an endless stream of sexual partners.
Laurie Jade Woodruff has said the picture sharing app acted like a drug and fed her no-strings sex.
She said she would dress up in provocative clothing and pose for photos, even though she didn’t particularly enjoy doing it, just so the compliments and naughty private messages would roll in.
‘Instagram is a playground full of temptation,’ the 31-year-old told The Sun. ‘At my worst, I was obsessed with the thrill of sleeping with strangers and social media made it scarily easy to do.’
She continued:
Forget going to a bar or bothering with pricey dating apps, Instagram would help me hook up in minutes for free from the comfort of home.
Laurie, who is now celibate, said sex was a quick fix to her problem because Instagram made it so easy to attract attention. But it took her years to realise just how damaging that kind of attention could be.
The Sheffield author said men would message her constantly. Some would like her photos and offer to take her on dates, but others would send more graphic messages detailing the explicit things they would like to do to her.
She recalled:
The sex was so exciting. It was the buzz of making out with a stranger that had me hooked.
It was my ultimate fantasy. But I felt powerless to control my desire.
Although Laurie would occasionally see a man again if there appeared to be a real connection, she admitted that the vast majority of them were one-night stands. The mum added that part of the addiction was avoiding any kind of commitment.
She now says she terrified herself looking back at the huge danger she put herself in when she’d go back to a random man’s house without any idea who he was.
Laurie realised something needed to change when she met a man one Friday night, who told her how beautiful she was.
The 31-year-old said he seemed really nice at first but as soon as they went to bed, he changed immediately. He was too rough with her and she left at the first opportunity, realising something had to give.
Laurie’s life took another heartbreaking turn when her son Arthur died of Sudden Infant Syndrome or cot death in 2015 when she fell asleep breastfeeding and woke up to him dead next to her.
She gave birth to her second son Henry in June 2017 and even found herself texting men with him in her arms, so she knew she needed to take drastic measures.
Although Laurie feels she will always be addicted to sex, she says things are now looking up as she pursues her dream as a writer and already has two successful books under her belt.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.