‘We all need and crave affection’

A lusty widow is launching an app for other bereaved spouses craving no strings attached sex.

Nicky Wake, 51, said thousands of widows and widowers are ready to join WidowsFire, which she conceived following the death of her husband, Andy, 57, in 2020.

” ‘Widow’s fire’ is a term commonly used within the widower’s community to describe the intense, uncontrollable, or all-consuming desire for sex following the bereavement of a partner,” the British entrepreneur explained of her app’s name while speaking to SWNS.

“I shared my bed with my husband for 20 years, and then all of a sudden he’s not there,” she continued. “If you have a healthy sex life, that is going to be a gaping void. We all need and crave affection, cuddles and stolen kisses.”

WidowsFire is set to go live in June, with members required to provide their spouse’s death certificate to prove they are eligible to be on the app.

Meanwhile, Wake has also created a separate app named Chapter 2, designed for widows and widowers who are ready for serious romance once again.

Speaking with SWNS in January, Wake explained that the idea for the apps came after she finally summoned the courage to start dating again.

“I met Andy online [back in 2002], but modern online dating had changed hugely,” she recalled. “Back in the day there were no d–k pictures or ghosting. Modern-day dating is like the wild West, and as a widow, I was extremely vulnerable and a little bit broken.”

She added: “When I go to widow meet-ups the conversation often turns to, ‘Have you started dating again?’… and I thought there was an idea here. I checked, and there wasn’t an app for widows, there was nothing authentic and genuine.”

Wake said the two apps offer options for widows and widowers: one for those who are ready to start seriously dating again, and the other for people who simply miss physical touch and intimacy.

Wake met her late hubby on DatingDirect.com, and the pair clicked instantly. They married in Jamaica in 2004 and welcomed a son, Finn, in 2007.

“We were living an idyllic happy life,” the widow recalled. “He was a wonderful stay-at-home dad and did all the school walks and all the cooking.”

In July 2017, however, their happy lives were turned upside down when Andy had a heart attack.

The couple felt they had a “lucky escape” after he survived the ordeal, but just four days later, he suffered a second heart attack, which caused a “catastrophic” brain injury due to oxygen starvation.

“He couldn’t walk, he didn’t know who I was, and he didn’t know where he was,” Wake recounted, saying Andy needed to be placed in a nursing home for round-the-clock care.

“Very often he didn’t have a clue who I was when I came to visit, which is utterly heartbreaking,” she added.

Andy contracted COVID-19 shortly after the onset of the pandemic and passed away at 57.

After starting the scary process of dating again, Wake said she realized how much she had in common with widowers.

“We didn’t choose this,” she said. “We didn’t leave our partner, we have been left in this situation, not out of our choosing which makes it doubly hard.”

Wake admitted it is the “weirdest thing in the world” to have a new sexual relationship after the loss of a long-term partner, noting: “Kissing someone new after 20 years with someone who knows you so intimately is weird. In a long-term relationship, you don’t need to overthink that stuff, but in a new relationship, it can be daunting.”

The single mom said she’s been overwhelmed by the positive response to her ventures, claiming it’s given her something to live for.

“I think if I can help some people find some joy, that helps me make sense of my loss,” she stated. “It has given me a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to be.”