best for REAL LIFE
ar Lady
treated like a princess?
So I looked it up to find
out more. The website
was refreshingly honest. It
explained that they were
redefining the expectations
of an ideal relationship,
and this was the place for
men and women to come
to upfront arrangements
about what they wanted
from potential partners.
After a couple of
weeks of mulling it over,
I couldn’t see what I had
to lose, so I signed up with
a short profile and waited
to see what happened.
Instantly, it felt different
from the other dating
sites. The ‘sugar daddies’- usually businessmen
or entrepreneurs – had
posted cleverly worded
profiles, where they
offered to ‘invest’ in
their ‘sugar babies’.
Although, at 43, I was
far too old to be called
a sugar baby. ‘I’ll be a
sugar lady,’ I told myself.
And I was delighted
that, as men did get in
touch, they seemed
genuinely interested
in this sort of
arrangement. Rather
than asking to meet me
straight away, they wanted
to know more about me,
speak on the phone, see
what we had in common.
I have to admit, the first
time I met up with a man
on the site, my stomach was
knotted up in nerves – but it
needn’t have been. He was a
perfect gentleman, offering
me a seat, listening intently
to my stories and whipping
away the bill before I had
a chance to see it.
In fact, he behaved
exactly as I’d expect
a man on a date to behave,
except when he slipped an
envelope containing a wad
of money into my hand at
the end of the evening.
But even that didn’t feel
too strange. After all, we’d
discussed it beforehand...
It was certainly different
to anything I’d known before,
but I soon threw myself into it.
‘I could get used to this,’
I smiled, as I slipped into
a pair of heels to go out to
another Michelin-starred
restaurant.
Before long, I was getting
up to £600 a week to help
supplement my wages as a
Pilates teacher in London.
I paid my rent and bought
new clothes. I was whisked
away to Paris by one man for
a long weekend, wined and
dined in Gordon Ramsay’s
restaurant by another.
And, as I got used to my new
lifestyle, I realised just how
lonely these men were – men
who worked 16 to 18 hours
a day, whose jobs meant theyspent their lives jet-setting
all over the world and taking
conference calls at ridiculous
hours, who genuinely didn’t
have time for a conventional
romantic relationship.
I saw how much it meant to
them to have a woman make
a fuss of them, listen to them
and just generally shower
them with attention.
And that’s exactly what
I do. I’ll turn up between their
meetings for a short walk in
the park by their offices to
help them relax, or wait as
long as it takes for them to
finish their work phone calls
during dinner.
I’m always smiling and
excited to see them and
never share my problems
with them. I also never cook
for them at home – that would
smack too much of an actual
relationship. However close
we become, these connections
are definitely not that.
I have to admit, I haven’t
told my sons about my new
situation – they know I’m
dating, but not the details.
And, although all of my
friends are married or in
long-term relationships,
they all say they’d definitely
sign up to the site if they
ended up single.
I’d encourage them every
step of the way. I’m having the
best time – life as a sugar lady
is very sweet indeed!Men meet their
‘sugar babies’
for ‘mutually
beneficial
relationships’...Then she
discovered a
site called
seeking.comWORDS:SARAHWHITELEY^PICTURES:BROADWAYSTUDIOS,^ GETTY,^ JAMPRESS‘These men
genuinely
didn’t have
time for a
romantic
relationship’
that she’d joined a website,
seeking.com, where men
and women signed up
for ‘mutually beneficial
relationships’.
‘I’ve had a great time,’ she
said, explaining she’d been
treated to a luxury lifestyle
by various sugar daddies. It
sounded fascinating – after
all, who doesn’t want to be‘If^ there’s
one^ thing
I’ve^ learned’
‘Relationships^ come^ in
all^ shapes^ and^ sizes,^
sometimes^ extremely^
different^ to^ how^ we^
imagined,^ but^ that^
doesn’t^ make^ them^
any^ less^ fun!’