TV and radio presenter Ore Oduba, best known for winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, has spoken publicly for the first time about his battle with porn addiction. The 39-year-old opened up on Paul C Brunson's 'We Need To Talk' podcast, revealing how he discovered porn at nine and how the addiction 'destroyed' his life over the following three decades.
'A year-and-a-half ago I was able to escape an addiction that had dogged me for nearly 30 years,' Oduba told the podcast host. 'It had been destroying my life from the inside out, but it was the thing from a very early age that I was running to as a response to a lot of the trauma.' The dad-of-two said stigma surrounds the addiction, explaining: 'I became a master masker. I had to keep it quiet... It's so shameful.'
Experts have now shared six tips to spot if you're addicted to adult content. Alex Warden, an addiction therapist at Priory Hospital Chelmsford, said: 'In today's digital age, access to pornography has never been easier. For some people, it remains a casual activity, but for others, it can develop into a compulsive behaviour that affects their mental health, relationships and overall wellbeing.'
Paula Hall, accredited BACP sex and relationship psychotherapist and founder of Pivotal Recovery, added that porn addiction is often referred to as a spectrum disorder. 'At one end it's recreational causing no problems at all, then there's more problematic usage in the middle, and then you have addictive or compulsive usage right on the other end of the spectrum,' she explained.
Common signs include using porn as a coping mechanism for stress, loneliness, or low mood, and when it begins to interfere with relationships, work, or self-esteem. 'It's not necessarily about how often someone watches porn, but rather about how it impacts their life,' said Warden.
