Rachael Webster tells the ECHO about her life as a sex worker before battling alcohol abuse and cancer
Sex worker Rachel Webster(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Aged just 22 and living in a “depressing maisonette” with no money to install her cooker or phone; exposed bare floors because she couldn’t afford carpets and nothing but a threadbare sofa to sit on, former sex worker Rachael Webster decided she wanted more for her young daughter.
So, she called a number she found in an ad for a sex worker agency. Now aged 53, the mum-of-three, recalled that “life changing” conversation. She said: “It was based in Bootle. The woman who answered the phone asked me to come in for an interview the next day. I said that’s fine and I did.
“She asked me what my name was and I said Rachael, she asked if it was my real name or working name. I didn’t even know what a working name was at the time. And that was it, I was a call girl for the next 15 years.”
At first Rachael, originally from Halewood, says the job was like “stepping into paradise” but told how she’d hide poison gas up her sleeve due to the dangers that went hand in hand with it.
Sex worker Rachel Webster(Image: Liverpool Echo)
She said: “It was very very dangerous. But, I made some very good friends. It was like stepping into paradise almost, all the money, champagne, friends, jacuzzies. Before I knew it I was earning around £1,500 a week in Liverpool.” Although she says she “didn’t know” what to do with her new found fortune.
Rachael said: “I got my phone and cooker installed, furnished the house, got a beautiful new carpet, new TV in time for Christmas and gave my daughter everything she could have needed. I felt proud that I’d managed to provide for my daughter. It was life changing for us at that time.”
The mum started spending her time working between London and Liverpool. She told the ECHO how she was making up to £2,500 per week at the time, but this didn’t come without its dangers.
She said: “The only time I used to feel safe was when I came home to Liverpool. Liverpool was my escape, getting to come back and being with my daughter, I remember her hair smelt clean and it made me feel safe.
“I would run around London with a can of CS gas poison up my sleeve, knocking on doors all hours of the day and night, it was very very dangerous.
“It went on for around 15 years, a long long long time. My mum would say to me ‘I pray that god brings you home safely every single day’ but I was attached to the excitement of it, I was bored in Liverpool, that’s what made me stay [in the industry].”
Sex worker Rachel Webster.(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Despite the “excitement” Rachael made several attempts to quit her career and even attempted a stint at university in Liverpool. She said: “I was around 32 at the time, I did really well at uni but my children were young and I was getting up with them at 6am, I burnt the candle at both ends and ended up dropping out. I went back to being a call girl because I didn’t have enough money to look after the children.”
Rachael’s mum died around this time and it prompted her to start drinking excessively. She said: “I started drinking heavily, it all became too much. It hit me so hard.
“I became homeless after my mum’s death, I suffered three heart attacks, I wanted to end my life. I ended up moving full-time to London to get away from Liverpool because I would find myself sitting in my mum’s empty house after it went on the market with no furniture, just drinking, it wasn’t very good for me so I went for a fresh start.”
She told the ECHO how she would drink up to a litre and a half of vodka every day to cope with the loss of her mum. She said: “I lost the will to live.” But, one day she decided enough was enough and went to get help.
Sex worker Rachel Webster.(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The mum started a charity recovery programme and through the support of friends she met through the network “transformed” her life. She said: “I was very lucky. One person, a man called Gordon, was my rock through it all. I met him through a homeless charity at the time, we were both homeless living in London. He was there for me when nobody else would pick up the phone to me.
“I met some lovely friends and with their help grew stronger and stronger. I eventually moved back to Liverpool because one of my children became very ill and it was then that Gordon inspired me to write a book. Writing was something I had always loved. I started writing short stories and poems from the age of seven.”
In 2015 Rachael released her first book, an autobiography on her life and the challenges she had to overcome. Since then, the mum found out she had blood cancer after being contacted by her GP for routine tests. She told the ECHO how she is “lucky to be alive today.”
She said: “It was really difficult and I’m so lucky to be alive. I had no symptoms, I wasn’t unwell at all. I was diagnosed in November 2023 after the doctor phoned me to say they suspect I have cancer.
“It was a really challenging year and a half until I got the all clear. There was so much stress on my family but I kept saying my prayers and I was lucky.”
Thankfully, Rachael has now had the all clear. And to celebrate, 10 years after her first book was released, the mum is due to release her second book.
She said: “My children are all grown up now, they have all got really good jobs and done exceptionally well for themselves and they are really proud of me. I’ve gotten over cancer, so to celebrate being cancer free and the ten year anniversary of my previous book I decided it was time to write a new one.”
Beyond the First Floor is due to be released next month. We will share more details when it’s available.