Addis Fouché on sobriety, running, and being today’s “Most Relatable Wh*re”
One of the best parts of being in the sober and non-alcoholic space is meeting incredible people I might not have crossed paths with otherwise. Addis Fouché is a writer, content creator, sex worker, and public speaker whom I've been following on Instagram since the early days of Third Place Bar.
I’ve been continuously enjoying her humor, confidence, and openness about her sobriety, and I knew I had to interview her for this blog - and she immediately agreed! In this interview, we cover her career trajectory, running, sobriety, the adult industry, and what makes her "Today’s Most Relatable Whore."
Hi Addis, thanks so much for taking the time to chat today! First of all, tell me a little bit about yourself - what brought you to New York, what’s your story?
Addis: I always love the assumption that I’m not a New Yorker, I grew up in Brooklyn! (laughs) My dad is from Jamaica, my mom is from Trinidad. My dad put me in a dual language elementary school, so I have been speaking Chinese since I was in kindergarten.
I know you’re an avid runner, how did you get started with that?
I went to boarding school for high school which is where I discovered that I was really interested in running. And then in college in Middlebury, where I was an economics and Chinese double major, I also ran cross country and track. I was probably at my peak physical fitness there. I actually almost became a SoulCycle instructor after college, but then I got my job in advertising.
You started out working in advertising?
I worked on all sorts of brands, such as Equinox and Planned Parenthood. Bud Light was actually one of the first campaigns I worked on - saying that out loud now, as a sober person, I realize how ironic that is! And at the same time I was keeping myself afloat by dabbling in sex work. I kind of had a double life.
“Bud Light was actually one of the first campaigns I worked on - saying that out loud now, as a sober person, I realize how ironic that is!”
What motivated the jump from advertising into doing sex work full-time?
I looked at my boss one day and I thought: Do I want what you have? And I realized I very much did not. I did not envy her life. And at that point, my mental health had totally started to go downhill. I was so depressed, I would just be in these zoom meetings, camera off, sound off, horizontal, not taking notes. I just couldn’t do it. So I left advertising at the end of 2020, and it felt like I was actually making more time to do the things I wanted to do - writing, modeling…
You said you’re a sober person, what’s your experience with drinking and substance use?
I started drinking, smoking, doing coke, and all that in boarding school, when I was 14. I could take it or leave it, but when it was around I would say “sure”. But because I was such a serious runner, I had a reason to not really fall in too deep. And then in college, of course, people are older, there's more partying and fewer restrictions, I started drinking a lot more and blacked out all the time. On top of that, my boyfriend passed away my senior year in college, and that really plunged me into self-medicating with substances.
Later on, it got more intense, I would literally blackout constantly and also do, you know, two grams of coke every day. That’s actually demonic. My sinuses were really messed up for a while, when I was in an elevator that was going fast I could actually feel it.
What prompted you to go to rehab?
I had several rock bottoms. In 2019, my mental health was really starting to go. And I felt like I was really starting to feel the effects of missing my boyfriend and grieving. My friends actually had an intervention for my second stint in rehab in early 2021. They told my family “I think she's back to doing stuff”. I was with my mom earlier that day and told her “Oh, Mom, I'm so excited to see all my friends.” And of course, I'm doing blow in my mom's office, and I say “Bye Mom, see you later” and go to see my friends and they tell me “This is an intervention, we told your mom”.
What was it like coming out of rehab, how do you feel about being at events or places where there’s alcohol around you?
In the beginning I had to really avoid, as they say, people, places, and things. But the world doesn’t stop because Addis is sober, and I just had to deal with it. I realized there’s more to going to bars than just the substances, like hearing my favorite song, seeing my friends, or putting on a cute outfit.
One thing I want to say to anyone who is wondering about how I got through my issues with substances: I think about all the positive things I’ve been allowed to do and experience, and all those things happened because I stopped doing one thing.
Getting back to our chat about substance use, what would you say about the use of alcohol and drugs in the adult industry in general, is there any overlap?
Actually, if you’re on a professional set, you cannot be under the influence, otherwise they cancel the shoot because that’s an issue of consent. They’re very strict about that. Everyone also has a “No-List”, people you don’t shoot with, things you won’t do, and they take that very seriously. Honestly, being on set is quite boring.
What about off-set? I hear that a lot about the music industry for example, a lot of networking events or parties are just heavy on drinking and sort of, doing shots or bumps as a bonding mechanism. Do you feel like a novelty as someone who doesn’t drink?
I think that’s just parties in general, not just specific industries (laughs). I was just in the AVN (Adult Video News) 2024 award campaign, they’re basically the porn Oscars. Being in the campaign was such a big honor. And at the AVN parties you're just moving really, really fast, especially at the convention. People are shooting, there's events, there's parties, and I’m just there at these parties, drinking my Sprite.
I personally find it really easy to attract other sober performers. I'm not the only one, so I never feel like the odd one out. And there's also the people who are sober-curious and who are interested in, say, the De Soi I have. I love De Soi! (Not sponsored. Katy Perry, you hear this?)
Which one?
The yellow one!
Tell me more about those other ventures you’ve started aside from being in front of the camera!
I started my company and blog, Bitter Blush, when I was in college, which is a space to talk about stigmatized issues in order for people to feel less shame when speaking about things like sex, mental health, and identity. I also have a live event series called The Lust Files with my business partner Natassia Miller, it's all about talking about sex in a healthy exploratory way. Those are my ventures aside from writing, modeling, filming and public speaking.
I created the moniker “Today's Most Relatable Whore”, because I make it very obvious that even though I'm a sex worker, I'm also a person. If you know me a little bit, you know I like to run, you know that I’m sober, and you know that I do porn. And I noticed that with a lot of sex workers, you don’t know what their voice sounds like, you don’t know if they have hobbies, if they have families, so I make it very obvious that I exist in multitudes. I think it’s important to humanize people.
“I’ve run the New York Marathon as many times as I’ve been to rehab”
Okay I have one question - you’ve already accomplished so much, how old are you?
I’m 28.
That sounds like a lifetime of achievements already!
I’ve run the New York Marathon as many times as I’ve been to rehab (laughs).
What is next for you in terms of your career?
I have a lot of projects going on. The Bitter Blush app is going to be available for b2b and b2c usage. The Lust Files is going to have a lot more events, I think there’s one coming up in June. Doing more events, more podcasts… and I’m writing a book! I can’t say what it’s about, but it’s not a memoir!
Thank you so much Addis for taking the time to chat, this was such a fun interview. You can find Addis online at @addisfouche on Instagram, TikTok, and all other platforms.
