Ore Oduba Reveals Poignant Update on 'Isolating' Porn Addiction During GMB Appearance
Strictly Come Dancing champion Ore Oduba has delivered a heartfelt and candid update regarding his long-standing and "shameful" porn addiction. The television presenter, aged 40, appeared on Monday's edition of ITV's Good Morning Britain to speak with hosts Kate Garraway and Paul Brand.
A Lifelong Struggle with Addiction
Oduba, who triumphed in the BBC's dance competition in 2016, first publicly disclosed his addiction in November of last year. He confessed to suffering for three decades, meticulously concealing it from everyone close to him. During the interview, Oduba, now sober, emphasised the compulsive nature of addiction.
"Well, ask any addict, Kate. It's not a choice," he stated. "It's not something they willingly go down the path of. You feel you get to a point where it comes to your life, you create ways to mask, avoid, to become secretive."
He described the exhausting duality of living a double life, "protecting that other life, and go[ing] through this life as an other projection." When Garraway inquired about feelings of shame, Oduba was unequivocal.
"Yeah, and of course, and because it's so shameful, because it's so taboo, and so much of the online world becomes so isolating, addiction, and add that to people interacting with their smart phones, it becomes so isolating and shameful," he explained. "Because there is no communication to it, you end up hiding it, keep it away. That's where it becomes a real issue."
Motivation: Protecting Children and Honouring Family
Oduba's decision to speak out followed his pursuit of help after two profound personal tragedies: the death of his father and the dissolution of his marriage. He and his ex-wife Portia announced their separation in October 2024 after nine years together.
The presenter's advocacy is deeply personal. He revealed on Paul C Brunson's We Need to Talk podcast that his addiction began at the age of nine. "I was nine when I was introduced to pornography. That’s when my addiction started," he confessed. "While I wouldn’t say the addiction set in immediately, the intrigue started immediately and it didn’t take long for that intrigue to start running my mind over. It was the thing that was destroying my life from the inside out."
He linked his childhood trauma directly to his addictive behaviour, stating it was "a thing I was running to from an early age as a response to the trauma."
Now, his focus is on prevention. "When I started talking about addiction in the digital space, online space, how I had fallen to something at nine-years-old, for me it was to try and protect my children," he told the GMB hosts. He expressed grave concern about the unregulated digital landscape, arguing it drives bullying, self-harm, and severe mental health issues among the young.
"We're not societally, nationally, globally, waking up to the truth that these platforms were setting out to harm our children," he warned, urging for collective action to "protect children, over profit and protect childhood, over profit."
The London Marathon: A Tribute to His Sister
A powerful secondary motive for his public stance is his upcoming participation in the London Marathon. This endeavour serves as a tribute to his sister Lola, whom he lost to suicide in April of last year.
"I swore I would never do it," Oduba admitted regarding the marathon. "Then through a series of events, tragedy of the family losing my sister last year, my sister was the heart and soul of our family. They loved running."
He described how her memory has become his driving force. "It crystalized in my mind what my sister did for us as a family. The courage and the strength that they installed in me, I had to do the one thing that I knew I would never have the capability of doing. That was running the London Marathon. It is in honor of them."
Oduba believes the strength drawn from her legacy will propel him to the finish line, concluding, "I knew I would find the strength to complete the thing I knew I would never do. That's what is going to push me over the finish line."
Good Morning Britain airs on ITV1 and is available for streaming on ITVX.
