Olympian: ‘I was watching porn aged 12’

A former Olympic diver has shared his battle with porn addiction to raise awareness and encourage others to seek help.

Freddie Woodward, who represented Team GB in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, told the BBC how he started watching porn at 12 years-of-age, something he continued to do right through his athletic career.

Last year, a report published by the office of the Children’s Commissioner for England found that exposure to online pornography is on the rise and that children are increasingly likely to stumble across it by accident.

Addiction

Freddie recalled that he started regularly viewing internet porn as a child, around the time he began competing on the international stage.

He said his parents were probably unaware of his pornography use, noting: “I’m the first generation to have had access to high-speed internet porn.

“I realised I had a problem when it came to homework and exams, like GCSEs and A Levels. Every time I sat down to revise, all I wanted to do was open those sites.”

At 20, his career soared and he started winning medals at top competitions. However, he was viewing porn daily, sometimes multiple times, especially after a bad training session.

‘I couldn’t stop’

His then girlfriend found out and confronted him. Freddie said: “I was so embarrassed and crushed. I just didn’t know how to deal with it. The worst part was, I still couldn’t quit porn. I couldn’t stop.”

He described feeling like he was carrying a “huge ball of shame” due to his addiction. It took him six years to overcome the habit, noting a breakthrough moment where he started shifting his mindset from trying to quit to becoming “someone who doesn’t watch porn”.

Now 30, Freddie is calling for better education around the use of pornography and for intervention that is “honest and evidence-led”.

Society-wide problem

Dr Paula Hall, who runs a specialist support centre, warned porn addiction is “exploding in society, and we’re struggling to know how to contain it”.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson commented: “It is troubling to hear accounts of individuals becoming addicted to pornography at such a young age.

“It reinforces the importance of the online safety laws we have put in place to prevent children from accessing harmful content.”