FOR young carer Leelee, the perfect Christmas present under the tree this year wouldn't be a puppy, a new dress or a diamond ring – but another sugar daddy.
The 23-year-old sugar baby has at least 10 rich 'daddies' who lavish her with adoring messages, £120 handbags and swanky hotel breaks in a controversial dating practice that's been compared to prostitution.
One lawyer recently paid Leelee £250 to join him on a champagne-fuelled overnight stay at a posh hotel, after being drawn to her online dating profile, teasing: "Willing to lie about how we meet ;)."
'Daddy asked me to use him as a footstool'
Others have splashed out on luxury meals, salon treatments and new high heels for her – with Leelee even agreeing to one 'daddy's' creepy request to use him as a 'human footstool'.
"I was like, 'That's fine hun but you'll need to buy me some new shoes'," Leelee, from the seaside town of Eastbourne, East Sussex, tells Sun Online. "So he got me some new heels."
Sugar dating – where 'babies' date wealthy older 'daddies' in exchange for financial support – has been accused of being a form of prostitution that puts young women in danger and can leave them emotionally damaged.
Yet Leelee defends the practice, saying: "The daddies are fantastic, they're so affectionate. It gets you to places you've never been before and gets you money in your pocket you wouldn't have had.
"Meeting a sugar daddy is a Christmas present in itself."
She adds that she's never had sex with any of her admirers – mostly high-flying "business types" – but admits: "If I had a connection with them, I would… if they're nice and I fancy them."
'No time' for boyfriends
Leelee has had boyfriends in the past – but after giving up her waitressing job to care for her mum at home following an accident earlier this year, she found herself with no time for love.
She also had no income so turned to the sugar dating website SeekingArrangement, which promises sugar daddies four 'attractive' women each and 'no strings attached' relationships.
"I don't really have time for a boyfriend so sugar dating was the perfect option to be honest. It's actually really fun," Leelee tells us. "I'd have had to go on benefits otherwise."
She adds: "Sometimes you've just got to go for it, you only live once."
SeekingArrangement claims Leelee is among more than two million sugar babies messaging and meeting 'daddies' – who earn an average salary of £176,000 – across the UK.
If true, this would mean one in 33 Brits sugar dates.
For 'babies', this type of dating can be very lucrative – with one London mum recently boasting she's made £20,000 in a year and even been gifted a Range Rover from her 'daddies'.
Leelee only started sugar dating last month, yet she tells us she's already netted £550 in cash and hundreds more in lavish gifts – with one 'daddy' even planning to pay her up to £600 a month.
"Men have sent me money to get my nails done, a pedicure, new shoes," she says, explaining that she sends her 'daddies' pictures of her new purchases whenever they treat her.
"It all goes through Paypal. They like watching what you do with your money."
Sugar babies 'abducted and stalked'
Yet sugar dating has a sinister side. In June this year, a former 'baby' using a different dating site told how she was abducted and threatened by a 'daddy' after she refused to sleep with him.
And another vulnerable girl revealed she was left fearing for her life after her 'pay-per-date' arrangements turned into sex work, with some men demanding she act out warped fantasies.
Others have described being stalked and carrying scissors to meet-ups for protection.
Leelee – who admits some men "have fetishes which are a bit strange" – makes sure at least one family member or friend knows where she is whenever she meets a 'daddy' in person.
Though, she admits, they often don't know "the ins and outs" of the encounter.
Sugar dating and its sinister side
Sugar babies are paid to spend time – and often, have sex – with rich, older men, who are called sugar daddies.
These so-called 'babies', typically young, attractive women, receive money, lavish gifts or other 'perks' in exchange for dating the men.
Some earn thousands every week, while others are financially supported through university.
Yet there's a sinister side to the lifestyle, with former sugar babies describing being threatened, stalked and even abducted by their 'daddies'.
In June this year, one former 'baby', known only as Lila, revealed how she was on her second ever sugar daddy date when she was held captive and threatened with violence if she didn't perform sex acts.
She said the man growled: "You’re coming home with me."
Other women have allegedly been manipulated, left emotionally damaged and even duped into sex for free after being promised large sums of money that never materialised.
Sugar babies aren't always female – they can also be male. Equally, sugar mummies also exist, often paying much younger, good-looking men to date them.
Couples usually establish a financial agreement early on – as well as boundaries, such as whether or not they're considering a sexual relationship.
Carer Leelee tells us: "I make an agreement before and if it's not in the agreement then I'm not going to do it."
She adds that she always video-calls potential 'daddies' to see what they're like before committing to further contact or face-to-face meetings.
'They don't want sex – just cuddles'
Over the past six weeks, Leelee has accumulated at least 10 'daddies' – and insists she enjoys chatting with them as much as she appreciates their financial gifts.
"I mostly call them 'daddy' and they call me their 'baby'," she says. "I talk to them every day and just give them a message, 'Hey, how's your day going?' About five have sent me money for treats."
She adds: "A lot of them don't even want sex.
"They just want some attention. They just want to kiss and cuddle."
While the majority of her 'daddies' are single, Leelee admits one is married.
Yet she claims: "I'm not sleeping with them so I don't see it as an affair. They just want that company because their wife isn't asking how their day is – a bit of self care, and that's what I give them."
So far, Leelee has met up with two 'daddies' – though she hopes to meet them all eventually.
Each time, she asks a relative to come over and care for her mum while she goes out.
"The first man I met was lovely, he worked for a hedge fund," Leelee recalls.
"We went to a little bar in Brighton – I don't like to bring men to my hometown. He bought us dinner, we had a lovely time. It meant he didn't have to sit there and eat on his own all evening."
£250, champagne and a hot tub
The man, aged 42, paid Leelee £150 for the date because she "didn't stay over". But soon after, Leelee was paid £250 by a law firm boss, in his 30s, to stay the night with him at a fancy hotel.
"He was just looking for a bit of company," she says.
"He said, 'I'm lonely, come over, we can chill, spend some time together'.
"We had our own hot tub in the bedroom."
The pair swigged champagne and splashed around in the hot tub – but didn't have sex. "That wasn't the agreement," says Leelee, referring to the rules she agrees in advance with her 'daddies'.
Sugar daddies 'as young as 18'
Leelee, who plans to see both men again, has also recently started an arrangement with a man who is paying her £150 to meet him for drinks – with a possible overnight hotel stay on the cards.
If the meet-up goes well, he also plans to pay her £530-£600 a month to 'date' him in the new year.
"If we get on, great," says Leelee, explaining that the monthly arrangement would involve her showing the man "attention" and "being available to meet him whenever he's in town".
Unusually, the man is just 29 – 16 years younger than the average sugar daddy age of 45.
Yet Leelee says: "There are sugar daddies out there who are younger than me. They say they're 'entrepreneurs'. I wouldn't go for 18 personally… younger is more immature.
"Older guys are better at conversation."
'I wake up every day with a smile'
Because she's only caring for her mum temporarily until she recovers from the accident, Leelee admits her sugar dating days are already numbered – yet she's not slowing down.
"When mum's better I plan to go back to work and get on with my own life," she says.
"Then I can find the right man and settle down – but I'm having my fun now."
Shrugging off concerns about sugar dating, she adds: "It's transformed my life. I wake up every day and I've got a smile on my face because I've always got a message from someone.
"Hopefully I'll get some more sugar daddies in the future too."
At Christmas time, the number of British women turning to sugar dating spikes, with SeekingArrangement seeing double the number of sugar baby sign-ups in November and December than in other months.
"The holidays are a great time to sugar date because this is the time when everyone is feeling generous, especially Sugar Daddies" site spokeswoman, Kimberly De La Cruz, tells us.
And Leelee hopes her 'daddies' will be feeling generous this season.
"Maybe they'll get me treats over Christmas, I have been good to them," she says. "Perhaps I'll send the ones I've seen a little picture of me next to the Christmas tree."
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