Terminally ill man whose children visit him once a month is spending ‘huge’ sums on model, 22, he’s never met. This is her message to his family
For many seniors, the silence can be deafening.
When adult children are busy with careers, families and lives of their own, some ageing parents find themselves spending long days alone, with conversations reduced to brief monthly visits or hurried phone calls.
For older men especially, a new kind of companionship – one that is instant, attentive and always available for a price – can easily step into the void.
The Mail spoke to a young woman, 22-year-old American model Skylar Mae, who claims to be in an online relationship with an ailing patriarch who has been spending thousands of dollars on her photos and videos.
It’s unclear if the man’s adult children – who he claims to see about once a month – are aware of the relationship or how much money their father is frittering away.
While it may sound tawdry and sensational, Ms Mae’s case speaks to broader concerns about how loneliness in later life is increasingly being met not by family or community, but by transactional relationships that offer consistency and attention.
Ms Mae explains the customer – who she declined to name – has been living in hospital for several weeks as he receives end-of-life treatment.
‘I have a very good relationship with quite a few subscribers, but this one is definitely a prominent subscriber – someone I make sure I spend a lot of time with,’ she says.
American model Skylar Mae, 22, has revealed the sad reason why one of her clients has been spending all his money on photos and videos of her
‘He started following me about three and a half months ago, so it’s pretty recent.
‘We started talking and chatting, and as we got closer, he began sending me messages like, “Hey, I’m back in the hospital.”‘
‘Over time, we got progressively closer,’ she continued, adding that she believes the man is in his late 50s or early 60s.
Her client is supposedly living in hospital full-time, though he hopes to be able to move back home in the near future.
Despite growing closer with her client – and receiving US$152,000 (AU$217,122) from him in the last few months – she still does not know what kind of illness he has.
‘He won’t tell me exactly,’ she says.
‘He just says he keeps going through procedure after procedure, and he’s hoping he can get out of the hospital soon and be on bed rest.
‘He has used the phrase “terminally ill”, but I don’t want to pry too much. I know a lot of people – especially in his generation, and especially men – are quite private.
The 22-year-old says the customer – who she declined to name – has been living in hospital for several weeks as he receives end-of-life treatment
‘I also don’t want to push, because he’s already opened up so much to me.’
The client has also declined to tell Ms Mae exactly how much time he has left to live, but given how dire his situation appears, she believes he may only have months left.
While the man spends huge amounts of cash on online sexual services, he also enjoys talking about more ordinary subjects, like Ms Mae’s three dogs.
‘He’s obsessed with my dogs. Obviously, he does sexting with me, and likes photos and videos, but primarily he just wants to see my dogs,’ she says.
‘He finds a lot of comfort in selfies of me with my dogs, which I absolutely love because I’m with my dogs 24/7.
‘He knows how much I love them, which is really sweet. I’ll always comfort him and encourage him to talk to me about how his procedures went.
‘He’ll ask me about my day, and honestly, it’s a very nice, friendship-type relationship.
‘Of course, he says very sweet, romantic things, but at the end of the day, he’s very friendly.’
Ms Mae says she feels very close to her client and is ‘sad’ that he has been ‘stuck’ in hospital.
‘He has used the phrase “terminally ill”, but I don’t want to pry too much. I know a lot of people – especially in his generation, and especially men – are quite private,’ Ms Mae says
The man tells her he would ‘rather spend his last days at home’, but has been staying in the hospital so he can receive treatment and care from health professionals.
‘He makes it clear that his situation is very rough and not looking great. A lot of what we talk about is him wanting to get out of the hospital,’ she says.
‘He wants to be at home, not there… It makes me feel very sad, especially because I come from parents who are very ill.
‘I experienced this with my mother when she was in hospital for six months straight – all she wanted was to go home.
‘I know that exact feeling of wanting to just be home. It breaks my heart, and it makes me want to care for him more and be there for him.
‘The fact that he’s alone and doesn’t want to be there, and just wants to be at home, makes me sick to my stomach.’
Ms Mae says she knows very little about the man’s family, but understands he is single with two children who visit him ‘once or twice a month’.
‘He spends a lot of his time alone. He has no animals. He’s just a very lonely man, which is horrible,’ she says.
Ms Mae tries not to pry too much into his personal life, but admits she would happily attend his funeral if she were to receive an invite.
‘If I did attend and I met his family, I would say I’d been talking to their dad online, and I’d be open to chatting with them,’ she says.
‘But again, there are certain lines I don’t cross, and I don’t ask too much unless he’s willing to share.
‘People from that generation can be very, very private when it comes to questions like when they’re going to die or anything about a funeral.
‘That makes it hard to answer, and I would never push someone to answer something like that.’
