A mum who says her ex-partner cheated on her with a close pal went on to make a drastic career change as a result, training as a sex and intimacy coach to help others stay faithful and happy within their relationships.
Talitha Hill, known as Dr. Stormy, says the relationship with her ex was "low sex" despite her having a "high sex drive", and has alleged that he wasn't the first partner to go behind her back with someone else.
Now a qualified sex and intimacy coach, Dr. Stormy claims couples she works with will often blame factors such as stress, busy lives, or childcare responsibilities for losing passion in the bedroom.
However, Dr. Stormy has hit back at the notion that couples should just settle for a "mediocre", or even non-existent, sex life.
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On her popular TikTok channel, where Dr. Stormy has clocked up more than 13,800 followers, she has rallied against the assertion that lust ultimately fades away with time, and claims that couples of all ages can work to re-energise their relationships.
Dr. Stormy, of Salt Lake City, in Utah, US, said: "I'm a sex and intimacy coach. I work with men, women, and couples. Everybody wants to have great sex and no one wants to talk about it. I was previously in a relationship and it was technically a low sex one, or near sexless, which was my personal and painful experience of it.
"I was cheated on by my ex with my friend, I was really blindsided by it. She was my confidante - she was the person who knew how much we were struggling sexually and she was my go-to person. It felt like a massive betrayal.
"It hurt even more because here I was saying 'here I am, a living breathing attractive woman who wants you and yet we're not having sex and you are off on the side'.
"That was really devastating. We went and saw a sex therapist and went to multiple types of therapy to fight really hard for our relationship, then decided [sometime after] that we'd part ways. It sent me on a path of reconnecting with my own sexuality, my own sex drive, and my sexual power."
Dr. Stormy, who believes that everyone is a "sexual being", says that most long-term couples do face various problems in their sex lives, and now hopes to use her own experiences of heartbreak to help them reignite their intimacy.
She explained: "85% per cent of monogamous partnerships report difficulties in sex and intimacy - and that's reported so it's probably more like 95%. [At work] I talk about the difference between sexless and low sex and how common it is. It was certainly one of the biggest troubles I experienced in my relationship.
"My heart is with couples and de-bunking the fact that couples need to settle for a mediocre sex life, or no sex life, and that passion fades. It's just bulls**t.
"I find the couples that find me are really in love. They love each other and don't have a horrible relationship or a relationship that they shouldn't be together".
She added: "They're just really struggling in the realm of intimacy and sexuality. It's so shrouded with shame, judgement, cultural messaging, and trauma.
"One of my favourite analogies to use is if your car is making a funny noise, you won't ignore it for too long. You'll get it checked out.
"You're going to invest time, money, and attention into getting your car checked out because you don't want the engine to drop out. But we don't do the same when our relational car is rattling. We sort of say 'it's fine, I'm busy, it'll get better, it's just because the kids are young'. All the excuses we make for it instead of prioritising intimacy".
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