best for REAL LIFE
After Claire Doré walked out on her marriage after 19 years, she found joy, liberation and like-minded people – at a sex club…
Stepping into the upmarket venue, I was dazzled by the glamorous women and the men dressed in black tie.
It was five months since my split from my husband, and I’d decided to try new experiences – this was certainly one of them!
Everyone at the ‘Killing Kittens’ sex club was wearing sparkly eyemasks, and as people chatted, there was an unspoken tension in the air.
Would many of these people, so friendly and welcoming, really be throwing off their masks and clothes and sleeping together by midnight?
I was about to find out… My journey to a new life had got a kickstart during a family holiday in Majorca in July 2021, when we decided to part. Although I loved my husband deeply, I wasn’t in love with him anymore.
Yet to anyone looking in, we were the perfect family. We’d met when I was 26, he was 32, and we were both working in advertising in London.
I was on the Nike account, and he needed to borrow a football! Within a year he’d whisked me on a surprise trip to New York to propose, and another year later – in 2002 – we had a fairytale wedding. Even the venue looked like a castle.
Three wonderful kids followed in quick succession and I gave up work to be a full-time mum in Wiltshire.
But as time passed, and the kids reached their teens, I sensed I was losing my identity. Starting up a business as a life coach put me in touch with me again.
It was a period of real awakening.
I could see that – like so many people – I’d followed the path I thought I should be on. Husband, house, kids – but it wasn’t making me happy. I was being the person society expected me to be.
Then, in Majorca we decided to part. I just knew in my heart that this was the right thing to do.
We didn’t tell the kids then, and somehow we got through the last four days of the holiday pretending all was well.
But within three months we’d moved into different houses. It was very scary not knowing what the future held, and at first I just wanted to be on my own inside the four walls of my new home. But I began adjusting to my new life and went on several different dates.
That Christmas, the kids went to their dad’s from Boxing Day. My diary was empty for a week – I didn’t even have any clients to coach as they were busy with their families. I’d had lots of invites for New Year, but I was feeling down and saying no to everything.
Then I read an article about Killing Kittens parties. Afriend had mentioned them, too.
‘World-famous hedonistic events…the ultimate adult p
