Ex-Team GB diver Freddie Woodward details porn addiction after his images leaked
Freddie Woodward (Getty Images)
Former Team GB Olympic diver Freddie Woodward has spoken publicly about his porn addiction, saying he realised he had an issue when his own intimate images were leaked online.
The 31-year-old revealed he was exposed to adult content at an early age, and he found himself watching it while juggling school and diving training.
However the addiction was so subtle that he didn’t realise there was a problem for some time.
Speaking to CNN, he said: “Any time I came to do any sort of revision, porn was just constantly like, ‘I’m here, I’m here, I’m here,’ and so that was when I first noticed it was a problem because I could actively see that I was not being as productive.”
Woodward said: “It affected my confidence, it affected my focus, it affected my maturity, it affected my emotional control, it affected my patience. You know, I wonder if it also affected some element of strength.”
He researched porn addiction as a teen but didn’t think he fit the description, after finding an article suggested addicts watch porn for more than 10 hours a day.
But soon, he started taking risks. Woodward started exchanging intimate photos with others, feeling the excitement in that way.
He said: “Looking back now, it was kind of addict behaviour really. Not being honest with yourself and justifying things in a strange way to sort of get what you want. But it was never enough.”
‘It was incredibly embarrassing’
Sadly, in 2017, he was left “really, really, really crushed” after his intimate content was leaked online.
He said: “Obviously, it was incredibly embarrassing, and I didn’t know how to deal with that. But it was also just this mirror to myself; what I’d been, what I’d been doing, my actions and how careless I was.”
Even then, he struggled with kicking his addiction and it took six years to stop.
Now, he believes being a professional athlete may have played a part in his addiction.
“You don’t live a normal young life,” he said, “and I think it’s this high-performance mindset that is a bit of a trap. You pile your self-worth into what you can achieve as an athlete, so if you fail to achieve something good, that means that you have fundamentally failed as a person.
“I think this expectation, this shame and this blame can make porn a crutch that seems more appealing.”
After he retired from diving competitively, he started working as a diving performer on cruise ships. He has now been two years without porn.
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