A sex-worker has opened up on the reality of her profession which fuels her $100-a-day fentanyl addiction.

Alexis Nelson, a 32-year-old escort and OnlyFans model from Lake City, Florida, only started escorting two years ago, but is already trapped in a vicious cycle.

She took it up because her friend said she "was pretty and could make a lot of money."

It helped stave off her greatest fear - withdrawal from drugs which she now relies on to face her profession.

Every day is the same - waking up in the hotel she now lives in and pays by the day, and having sexual relations with men for money, to pay for drugs.

And despite her struggles she admits she wants nothing more than "to live the American dream like everybody else" - get clean, get a job, get a house, and become a mom. "

She's sharing her story to "raise some sort of awareness" about escorting and drug addiction."

"Maybe people will think twice before they use drugs," she explained. "I am a direct result of my choices and actions."

"I actually got into escorting about maybe two years ago," Alexis shared. "One of my boyfriend-at-the-time's friends, he knew about this website, it's called Skip the Games."

"It's basically an escort website where you upload photos, meet somebody, and go out with them or whatever. "

"He suggested I should go on there because I was pretty and could make a lot of money."

"I haven't had anybody violent with me — yet. But you never know."

One encounter, however, still haunts her.

"I had to kick out one person, and it was a nightmare," she recalled. "

"There are different sessions — a QV (quick visit) is 10 to 15 minutes, then there's a half-hour, an hour, multiple hours, or even a full day or night. "

"This guy wanted an hour, and I was fully prepared. But in the middle of it, he was just really sweaty and disgusting, and I felt so gross. "

"He wasn't staying erect, so I felt like we were getting nowhere. I finally stopped it with 15 minutes left, and he got pissed off. "

"He said I scammed him, but I told him, ‘Hun, we're not getting anywhere.' He wouldn't leave, so I told him I was going to mace him if he didn't get out."

Alexis' daily life follows a routine that feels like an endless cycle.

"I stay in a hotel. That's where I live. I just pay for my room every day," she explained. "I usually do in-calls because I feel safer in my controlled environment. "

"I'll make an ad, then wait for somebody to text or call me. My life is honestly the definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. "

"It's the same thing every single day, and sometimes it gets overwhelming. I get really depressed, but then I think, ‘Shit, I've got to pay for my room,' so I get up."

"My life is a mess," she added. "

"If I could go back to the younger me and tell myself this is how my life would turn out, that I would struggle every day, I would have never picked up that first drug."

Alexis, who started on OnlyFans a year ago, said "it takes a while to build up the fan base."

"I'm not making as much as the other girls are making. But top 38% of all creators, so that's not too bad. I make about $550 a month."

Escorting, however, proves to be more lucrative.

"I can make a thousand in a day if I work really hard," she said. "I make more in a year than I did working the front desk at the Hampton Inn. "

"I'd say I make upwards of $ 30,000 a year doing that."

The challenges Alexis faces are compounded by addiction, a battle she has fought since she was a teenager.

"Originally, I started doing methamphetamine when I was about 18," she revealed. "

"That was my first drug of choice. I've been in rehab twice and admitted into a psych ward once. But about three or four years ago, I discovered fentanyl. "

"I snort that every day," she revealed. "It's been my biggest problem since then. Everything has gone completely to shit."

Her dependence on fentanyl has instilled a deep fear.

"I'm not afraid of much in this world. You can put a gun to my head and I will not be afraid. "

"But getting sick — getting that withdrawal sickness when you don't have the drug — that's what I'm afraid of. "

"It's like having the flu, but ten times worse. Your body aches, you can't walk, you can't talk, and it lasts for weeks unless you get on Suboxone. "

"But you can't do that until three days after your last use, or you go into precipitated withdrawal, which is ten times worse than actual withdrawal."

Fentanyl serves to ease the pain of what Alexis does to survive.

"I can't do what I do without my drug because I don't feel much when I'm on fentanyl," she explained. "

"I don't really feel all those feelings because honestly, when I escort it, it really takes a chunk out of my soul every time I do it. It really does. It takes a piece out of me. "

"I wasn't raised like that."

Alexis' family dynamics are also complicated, and she's open about the struggles.

"My boyfriend — well, I call him my husband — we've been together since 2016. He's in prison right now, and he's going to be there for a little while. "

"That's the only thing that sucks about that. So, I'm not going to see him anytime soon."

"And my mom, she's not happy. That's a whole other complicated story," she added. "

Once held together by the matriarch — her grandmother, Kathy — her family has since fallen apart.

When Alexis' grandmother passed away two years ago, the glue holding them together was gone.

"Everybody went their separate ways," Alexis explained. "My mom isn't talking to my grandfather, my aunt, and then there's me, talking to no one."

Alexis was always closer to her grandmother than her mother.

"She raised me," Alexis said. "And after she died, it's been tough. My mom doesn't offer any help. I can't do it by myself, but she's so selfish."

She added: "I would like to make her proud and make my grandmother proud, but I know she'd be disappointed in me if she knew what I'm doing. "

"She would be rolling over in her grave."

Her grandmother's death from lung cancer came swiftly — diagnosed too late, she passed just two weeks later at age 73.

"It was so bad, she gave up," Alexis reflected."

Still, Alexis dreams of a different future — one where she is free from addiction and escorting.

"My number one priority is getting clean and getting out of this life. Usually, when I'm not doing this, I work in the hospitality industry — hotels, front desk, night audit. "

"I'd rather get a job in that field again, get my own house, maybe have a kid someday. Just live the American dream like everybody else."