New Year’s Eve can be a lonely night for New Yorkers — and ꩲa lucrative one📖 for professional cuddlers.
Requests for sessions with “cuddlists” have surged by 50 percent this year, from 60 in 2017 to 90 this New Year’s Eve, said Adam Lippin, co-founder of cuddlist.com. And the calls for appointဣments are still coming in.
The top reason hug-seekers — mostly men between the age of 40 and 60 — request the sessions is that they are missing a human connec🌊tion, which can be most acute during the holidays.
“Supers🦩tar” cuddlist Saskia Larsen said she normally books seven to 10 sessions each week, but has six clients booked for New Year’s Eve. “I had to put three clients who I couldn’t fit in onto New Year’s Day,” she said.
Larsen, a 44-year-old blonde who lives a half-block from Central Park,✤ said her last cozy encounter is usually at 10 p.m., but she🌸 “made an exception” for New Year’s Eve “for one of my favorite clients” and booked a 90-minute session starting at 11 p.m.
The client is a long-divorced, 70-year-old🦹 retired accounta💧nt from the Upper East Side whose son lives in Chicago.
“We will probably cuddle on the couch while watching the New Year’s Eve speci𝄹al and ෴when the ball drops we will give each other an extra big bearhug,” Larsen said.
Some clients have had a difficult loss through death or divorce, and others might be looking to alleviate anxജiety, stress, depression or trauma, Lippin said, adding that the #MeToo movement is driving men “not knowing or understanding boundaries and afraid of women” to the service.
Cuddlist.com specialists have 146 practitioners across the country and 20 in New York💮 City. Rates vary, but are usually around $80 per hour.