DON'T JUDGE ME FOR HOW I MAKE MONEY

Despite criticism, Sandy Star, 47, is proud of her business

- MISHAAL KHAN NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED

Landing at Heathrow airport, excitement ran through me. ‘Home sweet home,’ I smiled. It was January 2019 and, after two amazing years working as a personal trainer in Dubai, I’d moved back to the UK.

I’d wanted to be nearer to my son, then 20, family and friends, and was looking forward to seeing everyone. I’d saved a month’s salary, and at 44, with years of work experience behind me, I'd expected to find work pretty easily.

Only, in the next few weeks, I was turned down for almost every job I applied for, and was told that, after 20 years working in the fitness industry, I was overqualified.

‘It’s not fair,’ I groaned to my mum, then 72, and I felt humiliated having to ask her for help to pay my rent.

By February, I was getting desperate, and after chatting to a friend one day, he suggested in passing I try webcamming. ‘It’s a booming industry at the moment,’ he said.

I looked into it and found I could earn money by stripping online, from the safety of my own home.

I’d been a lapdancer when my son was little, and had always been prepared to do whatever was necessary to get by and provide a good life for him. So, even though I’d come a long way since then, building a career in the fitness industry, the idea of stripping didn’t faze me. I just needed to make money, so I emailed some lingerie shots to an agency.

‘We love your photos, and the customers will love your muscles,’ one of the reps replied.

I couldn’t afford to pay out for any special camera equipment but the rep reassured me that all I needed was my laptop.