Ella’s bed is open for business.
With her waiting arms open wide, the single mom from Washington Heights gives warm, comforting hugs on a daily basis. She loves snuggling, no matter the position — be it standing up, sitting down or spooning on her plushy queen-sized mattress.
But the folks she holds the most aren’t her kids — they’re her clients.
“I’m a professional cuddler,” Ella, 48, a former art teacher in NYC public schools-turned-touch therapist for cathartic care company, Cuddlist, told The Post.
For $150 an hour, Ella — who chose not to disclose her last name for privacy purposes — invites patrons into her boudoir, nurturing them with a loving embrace in a myriad of intertwinements, including head-to-chest, face-to-face and bear hugging, as a form of healing relief.
And while her clientele is mostly comprised of married men between the ages of 40 and 60, she’s recently noticed an influx of Gen Z women seeking out her non-sexual snuggles due to an inability to make platonic physical connections in the concrete jungle.
“In a city like New York, there are a lot of lonely and isolated people — even though we’re constantly surrounded by thousands,” explained Ella, who retired from teaching to pursue touch therapy in 2017. She’s not a licensed psych, however, the brunette has undergone training through Cuddlist’s certification program.
“My cuddling sessions offer clients a specific type of intimacy and unconditional acceptance that they’re not getting at home, in talk therapy or at a massage parlor,” she said.
And although cuddling complete a stranger may sound kooky to cynics, research has found it to be wholesomely effective.
“Professional cuddling is a therapeutic practice which enables both recipients and practitioners to experience a nurturing and relaxing session of mutual non-sexual touch,” noted a July 2023 study on the occupation. The report noted that the unconventional treatment is often touted for enhancing “psychological and physical wellness” that can reduce stress, sleep deprivation and cardiovascular disease, as well as boost one’s immune system.
At the onset of the pandemic — when social distancing decrees barred pro-cuddlers from in-person canoodling — patients relying on the skin-to-skin services for physical, mental and emotional support were forced to get creative. Some resorted to hugging themselves, while others recreated the intimacy of touch through increased eye contact with a skilled squeezer via a computer screen.
But since lockdown limitations have been lifted, the embosoming biz has boomed.
In fact, Missy Robinson, a 43-year-old professional cuddler, went viral in September 2022 after revealing that touch-starved men pay her upwards of $1,300 for her healing hugs — insisting, however, that sex is strictly out of the question despite the coziness of her work.
Michelle Renee, a career cuddlist from San Diego, Calif., tells The Post that she enforces a strict set of rules that every customer must adhere to such as: “No touching me beneath my clothes, no sexual propositioning and no shirt, no pants — no service.”
“It’s okay if my clients get sexually aroused during a session,” Renee, 48, a married mom of two who’s earned a living as a hug master via Cuddlist since 2015, told The Post. “But we’re never going to pursue that arousal or anything sexual.”
Like Ella, she charges $150 an hour for her curative nuzzles, which she administers to men and women inside her private residence. The expert often invites clients to lie between her legs while she clasps them from behind.
And while Renee, too, doesn’t have formal training in human psychology, she says finds value in serving as a cushy sounding board for folks in need.
“I’m a really good listener and I’m happy to hold them while they tell me anything — kinda like a mom,” she said, noting that she doesn’t offer frequenters any advice aimed at solving their problems.
“I just create a really nice and safe space to not feel judgment.”