HE boasts of sleeping with 72 women and accessing hardcore Internet porn up to SEVEN times a day.

So when self-confessed sex addict, Kevin O’Flanagan, was invited to travel to the heart of the porn industry in Los Angeles to see his adult movie idols in action, he thought all his fantasies had come true.

But rather than being aroused, the 20-year-old was disgusted by a sordid and disturbing side to porn he witnessed when the live webcams and cameras stopped rolling.

He said many porn stars were actually desperate and innocent young girls getting through horrific hardcore scenes on a cocktail of drugs and painkillers.

And the Southampton Solent University student’s attitudes have changed so drastically he now supports a porn ban and has called for regulations to protect young girls from the industry.

“Before I went to LA I didn’t give much thought to the women in porn. I suppose I was quite a misogynist.

“I lost count of how many porn stars I met that week. Many say they enjoy it, but you can see in their eyes they really don’t.

“The spark had gone in the majority of them and the reality is they are treated as objects.

“The experience has definitely opened my eyes.”

Kevin was one of three British porn addicts invited to LA for Channel 4’s Date My Porn Star, a documentary produced as part of the Campaign for Real Sex.

Kevin, who lives in university halls in Southampton, admits his addiction began when he was first exposed to clips showing hardcore porn on mobile phones when he was at school, aged just 13.

He admits finding “normal sex” boring and said the fact more and more young people are accessing porn at the click of a button via their phones, tablets and laptops may be responsible.

He thought he hit the jackpot when he was invited for the trip to California to meet his porn idols.

“I thought ‘wow’.

"There aren’t many 20-year-olds who would turn down a free trip to LA to date a porn star. I just thought ‘this is amazing’.”

But the reality was far from what he expected.

His first experience was seeing world famous Jessica Jaymes star in a porn film before going on a date with her on a horseriding trek in the mountains where she told Kevin she was actually monogamous.

“At first I was quite turned on, but everything about it was so fake.

"It couldn’t be anymore fake in my opinion.

Daily Echo: Kevin with porn star Jessica Jaymes on a film set. Picture courtesy of Renegade Pictures.

“On our date she said to me ‘good luck if you meet the right girl, just go for it, have a relationship’.

“She was really genuine and seemed very clued up.

“There was a huge contrast between her, who treated it as a business, compared to girls who get used like in the casting.”

The casting Kevin refers to was among the most shocking experiences of his trip.

He watched on as aspiring porn stars came for an audition with company boss, Porno Dan, who ran an online channel that streams live sex shows to paying customers.

Daily Echo: Kevin on a date with porn star Jessica Jaymes for the Channel 4 show

“They came in, got naked, Porno Dan asked about three questions then either hired them or said he’d get back to them.

“They seemed to be doing it for all sorts of reasons, but I think they were all desperate and some were definitely on drugs.

“I couldn’t believe how young some were.”

Among the applicants was a 19-year-old teenager who said she had slept with three men and a woman studying for a PHD in quantum physics.

Kevin was so shocked he began questioning the teenager until he was silenced by Porno Dan.

“I was baffled and cringing by it.

"I didn’t want to be there. I was really disturbed. I just thought ‘you don’t know what you’re letting yourself into. You’re so young.’ They were too young to be making such a life-changing decision. They get deeper and deeper into it and then it’s too late for them.”

Kevin said within hours the successful applicants were invited to film hardcore porn films.

“There should be regulations where you have to pass a psyche test if you are under 25. You could wake up one day in LA and in a matter of hours you could become a porn star but it would be too late.”

However it was meeting ex-porn star, Vanessa Belmont, who shared her harrowing story of her life in the sex industry that affected Kevin the most.

She went from working as a stripper aged 18 to shooting soft porn films before descending into degrading hardcore scenes. She was infected with Chlamydia after her first sex scene and continued to suffer from sexually transmitted infections as well as horrific injuries.

Vanessa told how she had to dose herself up on drugs just to get through some of the agonising scenes and now has to live with the fact her past will forever haunt her.

“She was so so nice. I felt so sad and sorry for her. She looked like she had been through hell. It was like she was just empty, void”, Kevin says.

Since returning to the UK following his sobering experiences in LA, it’s clear Kevin’s views on porn have changed.

He explains: “Porn is literally so easy to come across, so it’s not surprising so many people watch it – men and women.

“If I’d have been asked about a porn ban before I’d say definitely not but now my opinion has changed. If it wasn’t there and you couldn’t access it, it wouldn’t be a problem.

“I shouldn’t have come into contact with it when I was at school. It’s important people know the difference between sex and porn.

“There are 11 and 12 year olds who have smart phones and they can come into contact with things so easily sometimes not intentionally.

“If I was a parent or had a little brother or sister, I wouldn’t want them to see hardcore porn.

"It’s just not right.”

He adds: “Porn is really glamorised and it’s really fake, but it can be damaging because when you’re young and watching it you’re going to think that’s what real sex is.

“Guys shouldn’t watch porn and expect their girlfriends to do these things, it’s degrading.”

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However despite his changed views, it seems even Kevin isn’t ready to ditch his sex habits just yet and still admits to watching porn.

Dressed in a jumper with a blonde woman wearing just her underwear on it, he said: “I think at the end of the day I’m young and I’m having fun being single.

"Yes I have slept with loads of women but I could meet someone tomorrow who is a nice girl and I would get into relationship with her.

"The only reason I haven’t done that is because I haven’t found someone I actually like and want a relationship with.”