For nearly seven years this young woman carried a dark secret – she was addicted to porn.
At her worst point Oghosa Ovienrioba, 22, would lock herself in a room and watch adult movies endlessly.
She would masturbate between five and six times a day and watched 400 hours of pornography.
Now a successful law graduate and vlogger, she has spoken out about the addiction that almost ruined her life.
Oghosa said: ‘When I uploaded that video in February, I had no idea how phenomenal the response would be.
‘I received hundreds of heartwarming comments from women who had been going through the same thing for years.
‘Lots of people don’t think girls can suffer a porn addiction but it’s a problem for both sexes. I hope I can help others out there – talking about your problem is the first step.’
Oghosa, from London, was just 14-years-old when her addiction began, in 2006.
She says porn was dangerously easy for her to access.
She said: ‘It was out of curiosity and it was just a simple Google search for me to get hold of an adult movie.
‘When I first watched it, my reaction was shock. But gradually over time, that shock becomes excitement and I would use any porn that I could get my hands on.’
But soon her addiction began to spiral dangerously out of control.
Oghosa said: ‘I was watching it so much that I started to get bored by the ‘normal’ soft porn movies.
‘I wasn’t getting the buzz that I felt when I first saw it – in fact I was almost desensitised to that content.
‘I went from watching soft pornography to dodgier stuff to get the kick I needed.’
Her addiction briefly stopped when she was 18 and had a six-month relationship with a boy.
But when she started university and found herself single again, the downward spiral of her addiction recommenced.
She said: ‘I was at a university and alone in a new city. I guess it was a trigger and I just went downhill from there.
‘For a period of two to three years, I was watching porn on a daily basis and sometimes masturbating over six times per day. It was all I could think about.
‘I didn’t see people as people anymore – they were just sex objects to me.
‘The simplest things could set me off such as a girl unbuttoning her blouse or a boy taking his top off. Everything made me want more.
‘I would sit in my room alone for hours, with the lights off, watching porn. I felt lonely and ashamed of myself.’
When Oghosa turned 21, she found Christianity and knew it was time to confront her problem.
She said: ‘I spoke to a friend about my addiction and that was a huge release for me. It was a first step.
‘Talking about it made me realise how much of a problem it was – you’re only as sick as the secrets you keep.
‘As a Christian, you have to be quite controlled about what you let into your heart, in terms of what you see and do.
She continued: ‘So now, I don’t read sex scenes in books and I don’t listen to oversexualised music.
‘There are some artists that just sing about sex and it’s best to avoid that, I also try to avoid inappropriate programmes on TV late at night.’
She posted a YouTube video in February 2014 in which she revealed her porn addiction to the world.
She said: ‘When I read some of the comments on that video, it brings a tear to my eye. People have told me how alone they felt with their addiction until they saw my video.’
Oghosa believes that there should be age restrictions on online pornography to make it less available to children.
‘It’s heartbreaking to know that children can still access pornography so easily like I did. There are age restrictions on drinking and smoking – the same should go for porn.’
A spokesperson for The Marylebone Centre of Psychological Therapies said: ‘The internet is having a huge impact on human sexuality as an infinite variety of material is available through picture sites, chat rooms, live shows, bulletin boards and web-cams.
‘Internet sexual addiction is a form of sexual addiction and it is important to have someone to talk to about your feelings in general.’
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