Sex addict tells all: ‘I slept with 400 people in two years’
A 33-year-old radio producer from Sydney has detailed his life as a sex addict, and has opened up about his most bizarre hook-up.
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A 33-year-old sex addict from Sydney has opened up about his most bizarre sexual encounters.
Joshua Fox used to be a paparazzo and entertainment journalist in the UK before relocating to Australia in 2017.
He now works as a producer on Kyle and Jackie O’s radio show.
Last year, Joshua joined the KIIS FM breakfast hosts on air and admitted publicly for the first time that he was a sex addict.
The confession provoked a huge response from the audience, and as a result, Joshua decided to write a book detailing his addiction.
What You Into? is set to be released on October 28, and not only does it contain a plethora of gay hook-up stories, but also salacious stories from Josh’s showbiz past and his battle with depression.
Ahead of the book’s release, Joshua spoke to news.com.au about his staggering number of sexual conquests, what Kyle and Jackie O are really like behind the scenes, and which celebrity has impressed him the most.
news.com.au: In What You Into? you explain that you developed an addiction to sex with strangers after your marriage ended in 2021. How long did that addiction last, and how many men do you estimate you slept with in that period?
Joshua: After my husband left me I slept with 400 people in two years.
For a while I convinced myself this was a good thing, some dumb proof that I’d moved on and that I’d won … “He may have left me, but look at how much fun I’m having”.
But eventually I realised it wasn’t fun.
Once I realised how instantaneous and anonymous sex could be, I just spiralled.
I was hoping each hook-up would bring me some form of validation and make me feel a little less lonely, but it never did.
The lower I felt, the more men I’d meet up with.
The best thing I’ve learned in the last couple of years is if you’re feeling down or depressed, the worst thing you can do is start relying on other people to get you through that. You have to work on yourself first.
news.com.au: The book details many of your sexual encounters, some of which were quite … unique. Which one stands out in your mind as the most bizarre?
Joshua: The most bizarre thing I’ve realised is how many straight men are out there willing to cheat on their girlfriends and wives while living double lives, and how they’re so blasé about it all.
Most don’t even bother taking off their wedding bands while sneaking you into their marital homes while the missus is out with the kids.
It’s sad that even in 2024 so many men deny who they really are.
news.com.au: Sex with strangers can be quite dangerous. Did you ever fear for your safety?
Joshua: At first I never feared for my safety, I was too focused on chasing that instant (and short-lived) gratification so that I wouldn’t feel so sad and alone.
I’ve read endless news stories over the years about how many men (and women) have been attacked, raped and even killed in these situations, yet I’d still go off every day to meet strangers in empty warehouses, jump into their cars in the middle of nowhere and drive over to addresses in the most isolated of areas.
Then there was one meet where everything changed and I realised how disposable I was to these people.
We spoke for five minutes on Grindr before he sent me his address.
We’d agreed beforehand what I was up for doing, but once there I was there that chat proved to be pointless.
I didn’t have a say in what happened next.
He went against what I said I’d be comfortable doing beforehand, he ignored my lack of consent and he ignored me as I asked him to stop.
It’s been two years since that day and I still feel almost incomplete as a person.
That man violated me in the worst possible way and I’m still ashamed that in the aftermath, even that didn’t deter me from continuing to meet other men through the same apps.
At one point I even convinced myself that I deserved what he’d done to me.
It felt like someone had finally proved what I’d believed about myself all of my life up until that moment, that I wasn’t good enough, that I wasn’t worthy and was unlovable as a person.
news.com.au: On a lighter note, in What You Into? you share some highlights and lowlights from your showbiz career in the UK. Out of all the stars you’ve met, who impressed you the most?
Joshua: Taylor Swift has always, and will always, be the nicest celebrity I’ve ever been lucky enough to spend time with.
We first met in 2009 on her first press tour of the UK. My friend and I went along to our local radio station in the hope of saying hello as she arrived for an interview.
Not only did she stop to have a chat with us, but she also invited us inside to watch her record an acoustic set and hung out with us afterwards.
She was so appreciative we’d made the effort to try to see her at a time when she wasn’t that well-known in the UK.
As she was leaving for her next interview, she passed us her team’s details and said we should reach out next time she’s in town.
We thought it was an empty promise, but a year later, when she came back to Manchester on her first UK tour, we called the number and were given front row tickets to her show and taken backstage to say hello.
Taylor remembered us, and then the same thing happened the tour after that, and the tour after that.
Many stars talk about how much they love their fans, but then they’ll do their best to dodge them as they leave a venue or event.
Taylor is the only person I’ve ever really seen prove what she says.
We went along on that day in 2009 hoping for a selfie, and instead we got a private concert and then a decade of access to the world’s biggest star.
She never had to do any of that, she never even had to stop to talk to us on that first day in 2009, but she did because she wanted to, and it’s clear she sees her fans almost as friends and her equals.
Even now working in the media, I’ve booked huge stars to come onto shows I’ve worked on, I’ve interviewed them as a journalist, and there’s often this almost invisible barrier between you and them, where you know they think they’re above you.
Some speak down to you or don’t acknowledge you at all.
With Taylor there was never any of that.
She really is one of a kind and worthy of her success.
news.com.au: In the book, you write extensively about how you struggled with the morality of being a celebrity journalist and photographer, and were ashamed of some of the stories you wrote and the photos you took. Can you explain that, and tell me about a story or photo you wish you could take back?
I write a lot in the book about struggling with that fine line between entertainment and exploitation as a journalist, and I have so many regrets.
My career started as an intern at a woman’s weekly magazine in London, where I’d be sent out to make fun videos with Ariana Grande or play a game with the cast of Game of Thrones or something.
But when I got promoted to senior writer my role essentially reached a point where I was being paid to body shame celebrities.
I think my biggest regret is never speaking up to my editors and saying ‘this isn’t right’ and ‘I don’t agree with it’.
I was only 23 at the time and if I did speak up, I’d have been shown the door and replaced. This industry is cutthroat and there’s rarely space for morality.
All of those magazines were built off the back of shaming stars under the false narrative of how ‘they’re just like us’, and that by circling a celeb’s cellulite we were ‘making them relatable’ and making our readers ‘feel better about their bodies’.
We’d peddle this lie and message so much that we’d almost believe it ourselves.
Thankfully a lot of these magazines have since folded, and the ones which have survived have started to veer away from this as social media has made it easier for them to be called out.
I can’t help but wonder how much long-term damage they did to people, and how much damage I did to people when I worked there.
I also regret how easily I allowed myself to disregard any morality.
I remember when Meghan Markle first started dating Prince Harry and every publication in the world was paying big bucks for any scrap of intel on her.
Back then, before the media even gave her a chance, editors were already pushing people to dig up dirt on her because that ‘sold better’.
I only ever sold a couple of relatively harmless stories about how she’d ditched various family members or distanced herself from old friends, but I’ll always be sorry that I allowed myself to get swept up and help contribute to the negative narrative that she’s never been able to escape.
Also, can you blame her for cutting people off from her pre-Harry life? If they were willing to talk to me for a couple of hundred dollars, then she was obviously right to make her circle smaller and smaller.
news.com.au: Speaking of celebrities, you currently work for Kyle and Jackie O at KIIS FM. Can you tell me something about the two of them that you think most people would find surprising?
Joshua: Every time I meet a listener, the first thing they ask me is, “what are Kyle and Jackie O like in real life?”.
It’s as if they expect them to be divas or demanding or keep their distance from the staff.
I suppose there’s this belief that celebrities of a certain level must act or be a certain way, but when the mics go off every day Kyle and Jackie O are exactly as they are on air.
In my opinion, that’s why the show is as big as it is and one of the most successful shows ever.
When Kyle is having a bad day, he’ll say so on air and have a rant about whatever he’s annoyed about, whereas other radio shows often pretend that everything is good, that everyone is constantly happy and that the world is wonderful.
That’s not real life.
Working every day with Kyle and Jackie O is exciting because you never know how each day’s show will go, but you do know that whatever happens you’ll be laughing.
Something people would find surprising is how much they genuinely care about the team.
Since joining the show two years ago, I’ve been up and down with my mental health and whenever I start to dip or become a bit distant, Jackie is always the first person to pull me aside, send me a text or ask if I wanna hang out.
A lot of people also think that Kyle and Jackie just show up at 6am and go live, with the team doing everything for them behind the scenes
That’s not the case.
There’s rarely a thing that goes to air that they’re not completely across, and Kyle in particular is a mastermind when it comes to radio.
The way his mind thinks and the attention to detail can’t ever be replicated.
news.com.au: I’ll finish with one final question about your book. What do you hope people take away from reading ‘What You Into?’
Joshua: I think I just want people to realise that we’re all broken to an extent, and we shouldn’t hide that fact.
If we’re all a little more open, we’ll all start to feel less alone.
I’m also proud of how I’ve managed to articulate the reality of living with depression.
The way the book is set out in diary format, even I find it crazy reading back and seeing how much my outlook on life can change from day to day as I go into another episode, and then slowly pull myself back out of it.
Oh, and I also hope I make people laugh.
I know it sounds a little heavy, and it is in parts, but even the darkest parts are approached with humour.
I’m one of those people who thinks ‘if you don’t laugh you’ll cry’ … although I’m often doing both.
What You Into? will be released on October 28
Originally published as Sex addict tells all: ‘I slept with 400 people in two years’
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