'Our 28-year marriage hit a slump. So we hired hundreds of escorts to save it.'

From the very beginning, WA couple Lee* and Bea* always had firm goals in mind.

"We've been married 28 years," said Bea. "And from the beginning we were always very focused on building things from the ground up, setting ourselves up for our retirement."

And while they planned for any number of different scenarios in life, a decade ago neither of them could have predicted that by the time they neared their Pearl anniversary, they would have brought over 100 new sexual partners into their relationship. 

Watch: Anna Grosman talks about her escort agency on Mamamia's No Filter podcast. Post continues below.

Having raised their kids and achieved a level of comfort in life, the couple — like many in long-term partnerships — had begun to lose sight of each other in the course of life's logistics. 

"It's funny, for a long time, money was the main focus," explained her husband Lee. "We've been very fortunate in life, and we never went without. Any material possession we wanted, we bought. But after a while, whether it's a new trailer or a new car, it all starts to feel a bit like a vacuum."

"We realised we were kind of just existing in our relationship," recalled Bea. "About eight or nine years ago now, it all just came to a head. We realised we had to draw a line in the sand and figure out what we wanted this next phase of our relationship to look like."

The couple own a holiday home about an hour from where they live, and took the weekend to — as Bea puts it — "hash it out."

"We had some really raw, uncomfortable and vulnerable conversations," said Lee.

"We dealt with lots of things that weekend," agreed Bea. "We found at the end of it that we had enough concrete laid. We had the foundations, and we felt that with those foundations, we could rebuild again. So that's what we did. We rebuilt our relationship."

By the end of the weekend, they'd come to an agreement about how to do it. Lee and Bea were going to explore sex with other people as a way to bring more excitement and connection back into their union.

There were rules to this agreement, of course. The couple decided that using an escort service was the most suitable way for them to dip their toe in the water.

"We're both professionals, and we liked the idea of having set boundaries around these experiences," said Bea. 

"From both a health perspective and a social perspective, we agreed that paying for this service was the best way to reduce our exposure, so to speak."

In quick succession, Lee had a night with a female escort, and then Bea had her own tryst with a male one. 

"It was really not that great," she recalled. "I couldn't seem to find my confidence and I didn't enjoy it as a solo experience. So we decided to try again, but with a couple's booking."

A couple's booking is where, instead of having solo interactions with their companion, all three parties have sex together. 

"It never occurred to us before this that we would do it together, purely because, I guess, to be honest, we all have our downfalls, and I can be a bit of a control-freak," said Bea. "A bit jealous, I suppose."

Their first experiences — back-to-back bookings on a weekend getaway to Melbourne, first with a female companion, and then with a male — are the reason the couple always thinks fondly of that trip.

"We booked through an agency run by two women," said Bea. "They were just so fabulous from beginning to end. Lee rang them up to organise it, and they said 'Yep, that's fine, now we want to talk to your wife to make sure it's what she wants, too!'"

"It was just such a great experience," Bea continued, "and it opened this whole world up for us."

Fast-forward to the present day and Lee and Bea have made well over 100 bookings, some of which have even gone across two or three days.

The pair have even come full circle, with many of their bookings these days made through Her Confidant, the female-focused companion service founded by Anna Grosman — one of the two women who ran the very first agency Lee and Bea used.

"She's just amazing," said Bea. "Even though you know it's a transaction, you can tell Anna really cares, and she makes it feel so authentic and natural."

As for how they see their sexual escapades in terms of their overall relationship, both Lee and Bea view it as a hobby they have in common.

"Some couples like bungee jumping," Bea joked, "we just happen to like enjoying the company of others."

And unexpectedly, what has bloomed between them is a marriage that is not only thriving, but rock solid — one that has been built, brick by brick, upon that solid concrete foundation they recognised all those years ago. 

"I've gone from a woman who thought marriage was always going to be this white picket fence, we were going to have the wonderful home and life and 2.5 children and all the rest — and yes, we have all that — but my concept of marriage has expanded and I've grown. I've got more confidence. I've got a voice," said Bea.

"Ironically, our boundaries are kind of like that picket fence," added Lee, "but one where you pull them out, realign them, and push them back in to create new ones."

"Bea is my best friend, my wife, my lover and my confidant," he continued. "I have a few mates from my school days, and we'll occasionally get together. When we do, they'll always ask me: 'What are you and Bea doing? What are you two on, you're so happy together!' I said: 'Well, we're having threesomes!' and they all just laugh and asked me what we're really doing, so I just leave it."

"I know what I would think if I heard someone else talking about her marriage like this," continued Bea, "I would be skeptical too. I really don't know how to explain it, but it has strengthened us in every way."

*Names have been changed due to privacy.

Feature Image: Getty