A man who is in an intimate relationship with a doll has admitted his real-life girlfriend felt "threatened" to have to share her man.
The Australian, who goes by the alias of Rod, bought his first doll called Karina in October 2021 after feeling lonely following a difficult break-up.
The 54-year-old opened up to 7News Australia about what life is like with the silicon dolls - and the difficulties of juggling those relationships with a living woman too.
Explaining how his relationship with Karina began, Rod revealed: "Home was very empty. You get lackluster when there’s no stimulation in your life.
"I hadn’t touched a girl in two years - and it all got a bit strange and distant.”
Rod had met his partner Jenny - not her real name - online seven months before he bought Karina, but as Jenny lived over 5,000km (3,100 miles) away, he was still lacking in physical intimacy which had been exacerbated by the lockdowns during the pandemic.
After discovering the dolls online, Rod spent $3,000 AUD ($2,000 USD) on his new companion, who he named Karina Luvly.
Although he initially saw her as a "physical synthetic companion", Karina soon began to open up Rod's emotional side too.
He explained: "All of a sudden, from emptiness, I had something that required care and maintenance and improvement in a feminine way. It was nice."
Spending time with Karina also sparked a love of portrait photography in Rod, and he regularly dresses her up and poses her for pictures in and around his home, racking up over 11,000 followers on Instagram.
Rod told Jenny about Karina a month after buying her - which had a mixed reaction from his human partner.
"We argued about it and she didn’t understand," he revealed. "The first thing that she’s feeling is threatened and wondering why."
While it took a little bit of adjustment for Jenny, Rod explained that Karina was "keeping him company" and she came around to the idea eventually.
"She saw what I was doing with the photos and the media and just totally accepted it in the end," Rod says.
After the success of his Instagram account dedicated to photos of his doll, Rod was even offered a job taking photos for the manufacturer in China as a result.
Jenny is supportive of Rod's talents, as he adds: "She is really happy to support me. She was really excited that I got the factory deal ... which will open up fields."
Karina is such a large part of Rod's life that he's even introduced her to his 85-year-old mother, who has also accepted her as one of the family, too.
Featured image credit: Michael Burrell / Alamy
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