Benefactor: The single mother-of-two works full-time as a technical support assistant, but being a sugar baby helps supplement half of her income. Photo / Seeking.com
A working mother-of-two has detailed how dating wealthy benefactors has helped supplement her income as a single mum — but neither her family nor her children's father know she is a sugar baby.
Ashley, a 26-year-old technical support assistant from Boise, Idaho, is a member of Seeking.com, a controversial dating site that pairs attractive young women with rich, older men, said the Daily Mail.
After a string of failed romances, the mum told DailyMail.com that she joined the site several months ago with the hope of alleviating the financial stress that has plagued her past relationships.
"I decided if I was going to date again, then I might as well start looking for someone already well enough off that I could eliminate that stress," she explained.
Ashley still works full-time, but she said the extra financial support allows her to do more for herself and her children.
The mum estimates that half of her income — including gifts and bills that have been paid for her — comes from being a sugar baby.
Although a few of her friends know about her lifestyle, she admitted that she has opted to leave her family in the dark for now.
"None of my family knows at this point and neither does my kids' father. Honestly, it's none of his business who I date unless I decide to introduce them to my kids," she said.
Ashley noted that she wouldn't typically talk to her family about her love life unless she started dating someone serious, and she doesn't view these relationships as being any different.
However, she does have faith that they would be supportive of her choice if they were to find out because she isn't doing anything to harm herself or her children.
The most expensive gift Ashley has received from a sugar daddy so far is an iPhone X, but she considers her Michael Kors bag to be the most extravagant because she'd never spend hundreds of dollars on just one purse.
Her current sugar daddy helped her spoil her son by renting out an entire Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday. The benefactor even got her little boy a bounce house, a magician, and a snow cone machine for the 'after party."
"I have only brought my children around one [sugar daddy] so far, only because he also has kids about the same age and they had a play date," she explained.
"The only other time I would consider allowing my kids to be introduced to one of my benefactors is if it becomes serious."
Ashley hopes that being a sugar baby will help her find Mr. Right, but if it doesn't, it isn't something she plans on doing forever.
"I will only do it till I'm able to go back to school and find a job that will pay enough to make it in this world by myself with my kids," she explained.
Unlike many other sugar babies, Ashley doesn't have any plans to go on long lavish vacations with her sugar daddy because she doesn't want to be away from her kids. So far, she has only enjoyed a long weekend away.
When they get older, the mum said she won't be ashamed to tell her children she was a sugar baby if it comes up in conversation. She also said she wouldn't mind if they joined Seeking.com as adults.
"I feel like definitely the biggest misconception about being a sugar baby is that most people think we are being paid to have sex or something. That we are just glorified prostitutes. That's definitely not true," she said, noting that the standard of intimacy is the same for any other relationship — when she's ready, it happens.
"I feel like everyone on this site is actually really open and honest with what they want from an arrangement, but most of the sugar daddies actually like buying gifts and such for the sugar babies they meet," she explained.
"It makes them happy to make us happy like that, and personally I think that's a wonderful thing."