April Brucker’s fiance gave her an ultimatum: It was him or the seven ventriloquist dummies.Brucker chose the dummies.
It was a painful decision. The New York City resident also cannot hold a regular job because of what she herself terms her addiction to ventriloquism. And yet she still refuses to concede that her obsession is affecting the quality of her life.
“I have actually used my strange addiction to my benefit; actually make a living out of being a professional ventriloquist,” she insisted Wednesday during an appearance on TODAY. “So it’s served me well. Right, May?”
“Absolutely,” the puppet that accompanied her on the show agreed.
From strange to dangerous
Brucker is just one of the people profiled on a 12-part reality-television series airing this winter on TLC called “My Strange Addiction.” Another is a woman who cannot stop eating toilet paper. And there is a man who is having a relationship with a “woman” made of silicone.
Some of the bizarre addictions seem harmless. But others are downright dangerous.
Take 31-year-old Lori Broady’s strange addiction, for instance: At the age of 8 she started sleeping with a hair dryer running, and she hasn’t been able to kick the habit since — even though she’s woken up with burns on her arms and chest. Recently, the dryer fell to the ground and started a fire.
“That’s why I did the show: I knew it was a problem,” Broady told TODAY’s Tamron Hall. “My older sister was kind of the one who introduced me to the hair dryer. I just had a hard time sleeping at night when I was a kid.”
Broady said that although she is aware of the obvious danger of her unusual sleep aid, “To me that is insignificant to the comfort that it gives me.”
Like Brucker and others spotlighted on the series, Broady also concedes that her obsession has affected her personal relationships. That is bound to be a consequence of any addiction — strange or not — according to Michael Dow, a specialist.
“The side effects are when we start to worry,” Dow told Hall. “When it starts to cause problems and it prevents you from having romantic relationships, that’s when we start to say, ‘How can I cultivate some balance and make some changes?’ ”
Broady’s issue is obvious, Dow said: She is clearly relaxed by the soothing sound of the hair dryer and the warm air it provides as she sleeps.
But the roots of other addictions, he added, are not so easily traced. Brucker’s ventriloquist dummies, for example, may provide her with steady companionship — but Dow said it’s more than likely that “May” and Brucker’s other puppets “give her a voice” and enable the young woman to say things by proxy that she might not feel comfortable saying herself.
As Dow spoke, Broady and Brucker listened attentively. Even May did not disagree.
“My Strange Addiction” premieres Wednesday, Dec. 29, at 9 p.m. ET on TLC.