I Was Addicted to Porn Since I Was 9, But I Finally Stopped 18 Months Ago — Ore Oduba

TV presenter and former Strictly Come Dancing star Ore Oduba has opened up about his long battle with porn addiction, revealing that it began when he was just 9 years old.

Speaking on the “We Need to Talk” podcast, Ore disclosed that his addiction continued for years and became something he struggled to control — until he finally managed to stop 18 months ago.

He said: “Shame kept me silent for 30 years. It took me 30 years, two deaths, and a divorce to finally go: here’s what’s happening

“This is me putting my life as it is on the line, to save my children and to guide anybody else’s children going into a world where at their fingertips, they can fall into something they never asked to.

“Part of me is terrified, the vast majority is terrified because I feel like, personally, for me, the rest of my life begins the day after this, as it’s a kind of a seminal draw-the-line moment.

“I remember being very intrigued and a feeling of eyes being opened. Whilst I wouldn’t say addiction set in immediately, the intrigue started immediately.’

“And it didn’t take long relatively speaking, for that intrigue to start running my mind over because at nine, at that age, you haven’t necessarily got full access.’

“Wanting to find a way to address that intrigue, wanting to find ways of that awakening, wanting to replicate it or find it whether it was on television or in magazines.’

“This is the problem with this form of addiction that even I could understand at 10. It’s so shameful. We can’t talk about it because there is a perceived nature to it that is everything that we hate, everything that we despise.

Speaking about his struggle, he admitted that he felt ashamed of his addiction and kept it a secret from everyone, saying: “I already said the people that I love most in my life were the women in my life, the ones that stay. But what you’re seeing is so conflicting to that.

“The battle that I was facing didn’t become so overwhelming that it took over for what I knew to be true.’

“I had two sisters, a mother that I loved. I knew I couldn’t share this with them because I knew it was so conflicting to the people that were most important to me. And so I have to, without knowing that I’ve fought against addiction, find a way to hide it. And it’s very isolating.

Reflecting on how it felt to open up about his experience on the podcast, he added: “The reason that I felt like I needed to speak about this is because I wanted to be able to guide my own children when it comes to it, when it comes to them seeing stuff that is going to be there.

“They’re going to come across it in life, so many of life’s pitfalls, whether it’s drink, drugs, money. It’s something I knew I needed to address.’

“This is, I believe, one of the biggest problems we have societally. There is such a prevalence. When we hear that 60 per cent of children are finding it accidentally, that it is cropping up on iPads, that it’s just so normal. If we leave it, what’s going to happen is these children start self-educating”

“It was something that I just knew to be me. Just a part of me. Something that I would always go to to feel. If you ever felt worthless, if you ever felt rejected. It was always a thing.

See video below……..