‘Prostitution left me feeling dehumanised and lost’

Selling yourself for sex will ruin your life, a former prostitute has warned.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Sarah Symonds said she hopes her “cautionary tale” of life as an ‘escort’ will stop naïve young women from “being lured down the same path”.

Prostitution, she explains, “led to a lifetime of consequences – not being able to hold down a relationship, crippling anxiety, depression and alcohol dependency”.

‘Commodity’

Symonds, now 56, gained notoriety for her alleged affairs with Jeffrey Archer and Gordon Ramsay. She also wrote a book on how to have an affair with married men, which was published in 2008.

After being treated as a commodity, I saw it as the norm

Reflecting on her first experience of selling herself for sex in her twenties, while living and working in the United Arab Emirates, Symonds said: “I had no concept that I had just degraded myself, put myself in danger and set myself on a life-changing trajectory.”

Over the following decades, Symonds was involved in prostitution both in the Middle East and then in London, all the while convincing herself she was “in charge”. The reality, however, was that it left her feeling “dehumanised and lost”.

Looking back, she wishes she “could have seen the long-term damage on so many levels”. But, she added: “After being treated as a commodity, I saw it as the norm.”

Damaged

Symonds is horrified at the advent of platforms such as OnlyFans. She said: “So many young women think that selling sex online is no big deal, that it’s easy money”.

it’s a slippery slope that warps your life for years to come

“But I am here to tell them that, whatever their assumptions, it’s a slippery slope that warps your life for years to come.”

She concluded: “I hope young women can read my story and realise that a lot of what they mistake for happiness – including money and glamour – is just an illusion.”