Bridget Zyka has spent years chasing the high of new romance, a pattern she now describes as love addiction. In a candid personal piece published in Daily Mail Femail and attributed to 'As told to Samantha Brick,' Zyka says she was sexually adventurous and easy on the eye, and that many men indulged her addiction to affairs. The essay nods to a broader cultural conversation about romance and addiction, echoing themes in Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir All The Way To The River, where Gilbert recounts her own struggles with love addiction and the lengths she went to feed it. Zyka, now happily married with two sons, says she embraced the emotional rush of flirtation and pursuit more than steady commitment for much of her life.
She traces the roots of the behavior back to her teens, noting that during a five-year relationship from age 18 fidelity was never the default and the thrill of being wanted proved irresistible. 'I loved the feeling of being wanted, the heady excitement of wondering what could happen,' she writes. The pursuit often involved juggling multiple men at once: one in the works, another in a relationship, and a third she kept as a potential backup. The fixation on the chase—the anticipation, the possibility—outpaced any consideration of long-term care or consequence. In her telling, the thrill was the point, not the outcome, and she allowed herself to be shaped by a fantasy of meeting the mythical dream man.
Her early life included a decisive surge of independence in her mid-twenties. After graduating with a degree in IT, she worked in technology and shared a flat in London before taking a five-figure leap: a year on a work visa in Canada at age 26. She describes dressing to showcase her figure, embracing a feminine, curvy presentation that she says many men admired. The thrill of new romantic prospects became a compatible companion to a lifestyle defined by risk and reinvention. She recounts locking lips with a friend’s boyfriend and flirting with others in a pattern that left little room for deep connection. There were moments of disruption, including a Canadian conquest whose girlfriend confronted Zyka over her involvement. Yet, in her view, the draw was always the chase itself rather than the trust or the long arc of a relationship.
The Canadian sojourn culminated in a dramatic shift when a Liam Hemsworth lookalike—whom she describes as someone she felt an intense chemical pull toward—told her he was flying to New Zealand. She booked her own ticket and left Canada behind, abandoning a life she had started to rebuild. The pursuit would bring about a three-month cohabitation with the New Zealand figure, a period that underscored how easily her loyalties could shift when the next captivating romantic possibility appeared. When the New Zealand connection faded, she did not pause to recalibrate; instead, she returned to London and, within a relatively short period, met Aldo, a man who would change the course of her life.
The moment of turning point arrived in Covent Garden, in a pub where Zyka met Aldo. The chemistry between them was immediate, and within a year they were married. The couple now has two boys and has settled into a life that contrasts starkly with her earlier pattern of wandering. Yet Zyka says the appetite for excitement did not disappear. She describes herself as still flirting, albeit with a clear line drawn to preserve her marriage. The difference now, she says, is that she understands how to channel the thrill without compromising the home she built with Aldo. 'I like the frisson of excitement with other men, but I draw the line,' she explains. The admission is tempered by a sense of acceptance: she does not intend to “recover” from the addiction, nor does she see a return to the risk-laden days of her youth as desirable. Instead, she frames the past as a period of self-discovery that converged with a stable, committed family life.
The essay connects Zyka’s experiences to a broader cultural conversation about love, desire, and the pull of novelty. Elizabeth Gilbert’s All The Way To The River has become part of that dialogue, offering a literary lens through which readers and listeners can examine the seductive pull of fresh romance, the disruptions that follow, and the possibility of healing within a long-term partnership. Zyka’s reflections, though intensely personal, touch on universal questions about why people chase new connections, how those pursuits shape identity, and what it takes to find lasting contentment after years of chasing the next spark.
Her narrative also reveals a broader pattern that many readers may recognize: the belief that the thrill of a new relationship can be mistaken for genuine intimacy, and the temptation to keep one foot in a romance while attempting to maintain stability at home. Zyka acknowledges the chaos of her earlier years—heartbreak she caused and endured, lines crossed, and loyalties tested—yet she refuses to deny the value of growth and learning from those experiences. She says that in returning to a conventional life with Aldo, she discovered a form of exhilaration that is less volatile but more enduring: a daily commitment that still requires effort, self-awareness, and occasional restraint.
As she looks back, Zyka expresses a sense of pride in the person she has become while acknowledging the convicting pull of the past. The piece closes with a candid portrait of a life that has evolved from unabashed pursuit of novelty to a balanced partnership that values stability, family, and a tempered sense of adventure. The juxtaposition between Zyka’s early days and her current life underscores a central tension in contemporary culture: is it possible to reconcile the desire for new experiences with the responsibilities of long-term commitment? Zyka’s story suggests that it is not only possible but also rewarding, provided that the individual can recognize her patterns, draw boundaries, and choose a shared path that sustains a family while still allowing personal growth and vitality.
All told, Zyka’s account offers a window into the complexity of love, romance, and addiction in the modern era. It reinforces the idea that the line between desire and dependency can blur, and that healing often requires accepting one’s past while actively shaping a present that honors those who matter most. In that sense, her narrative is less a confession of a reckless life and more a testament to resilience and reinvention, anchored by a marriage, two children, and the ongoing effort to keep the spark alive without losing sight of the foundation that holds everything together.