Glamour. “I was behind on everything, and my life had become a hamster wheel of chaos.” In her late 20s, following the devastating end of a failed relationship, Cook was lonely and found herself spending occasional Friday nights at a casino.
Then it became an “every weekend thing.” For about six or seven years, she says, she was able to manage her gambling—but the damage of creating an unhealthy behavior was done.
Rather than dealing with the challenges that life threw her way—in her relationships, and beyond—she’d escape to the casino.
Fifteen years in, she had lost all control. By 2021—overwhelmed by the prospects of quitting gambling and getting out of debt—Cook realized her only choice was to ask for help. “I went to my mom the next day and shared with her my truth for the last several years,” she says. “We made a plan, found resources, and I attended my very first meeting.” Now she hosts her own podcast, , in order to create a community for other women who have struggled with compulsive gambling.
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