Glam or sham? 20 'sugar babies' share what life with a sugar daddy is like

When I was younger, Allison (not her real name) was a coworker (not our real relationship) from Boston (not her real hometown) who I got to know after working on a project together at our job over a few months at a company that hired us when we were freshman in college.

During our sophomore year, she quit about a month after she started going out with her new boyfriend. She moved into the dorms at school, but didn’t show up to any of the classes we had together outside of exams. With a brand new iPhone and car keys instead of the student discounted bus pass, it was pretty clear that she wasn’t hurting for money either.

I was hanging in the dorm lounge with a friend one day, and a parent was trying to get inside. His kid wasn’t answering, and he was visibly upset. Security let him in to the waiting area by the game room and we didn’t give it a second thought.

A few minutes later, Allison comes walking down the hallways and dressed for a night out on the town. She walks to the parent, who we assumed was her father, says a few words, and he nods before getting up and walking out.

Related: 6 ways to get what you want from your older man without having to put out (too much)

She starts heading back towards the dorms, and I couldn’t help but smile a bit. “You’re in trouble?” I asked, jokingly. She scrunched her face and said, “Me? No. That’s just my boyfriend. He’s angry because I wasn’t picking up his calls.”  Our wide-eyed expressions must’ve given it away, because she shrugged her shoulders and made her way back upstairs without a word.

At midnight, I decided to head home, and was greeted with a brand new SL55 AMG equipped with chromed spinners (I’m old) and blacked out everything else. I walked towards it to cross the street, and stared because I didn’t hate cars yet. The window rolled down, and the much older stared in my direction unblinkingly.

“Nice car,” I said instinctively.

“Thanks. Do you know if Allison is seeing anybody?” I already knew where this was heading.

“I’ve never seen her with anyone on campus or anything. Any reason?”

I saw a smile grow across his face and he started nodding and saying, “Good, good,” to himself, nearly forgetting I was there. “OK thanks kid, have a good one.”

It didn’t take much to connect the dots after that, and she later admitted to it when I asked during a late night game of pool in the dorms around finals. The reasons why are still the same people do it today; it beats working. The difference is that it’s harder to hide in an age where even our grandparents are active on Facebook and Instagram.

Related: 4 essential tips for landing a rich, older man

A decade and several iPhone models later, several websites and apps have emerged to connect sugar babies and sugar daddies more easily than ever before, and the number of sugar babies I’ve met went from two over a 5 year period to nearly 20 this year alone.

The culture has recently been brought to light in media as well, forcing those participating in it to either scrub their online presence or praise the relationship as empowering.

While the legal standing of that type of relationship is often debated, any ruling would have little to no effect on them overall. After all, older men have been courting younger women for ages, right?

Below, we have trawled anonymous sugar baby confessions on Whisper and compiled 20 posts that give us insight into what being in a relationship with a sugar daddy is like. Is it shallow as we’ve been led to believe, or are we being too judgmental -- possibly to the point of becoming haters?

Related: We hate sugar babies because they’re competition

Well, you decide.

You hear this a lot. Whether it's true or not though...

Though this is what's believed to generally be more common

My condolences

Technically still true

Keep it off the net and it'll stay that way

The occasional legitimate case of 'it isn't about the money' does pop up though.

Everybody wins

That makes you a Sugar Entrepreneur

You could just get a dog for the affection I guess

Sign me up

Out of sight, out of mind

Like we needed any more proof that money does buy happiness

Time to update the Terms and Conditions of that contract

Congratulations

Again, my condolences

Your family might be a little smarter than you're giving them credit for

Put him down as your emergency contact number

A regular Jiminy Cricket

Might want to keep that a secret from him

The IRS might have a problem with it, though

Well, what do you think? Is the sugar dating lifestyle something for you? Is it better or worse than OnlyFans? Do you know someone involved in either? Sound of in the comments.

Beware Cat Shirt $21.68

Rise, Grind, Banana Find Shirt $21.68

Beware Cat Shirt $21.68