A WOMAN who met and married a prisoner behind bars has detailed the “awkward” way the couple have sex during his incarceration.
Laura Gehrke, a former star on Too Hot Too Handle: Germany, met her husband Joshua Stewart on a prison penpal site.
Laura, 26, had signed up to the site while being stuck in Dubai due to visa issues and quickly started chatting to Joshua , who is currently serving time in the US for homicide and possessing a controlled substance.
The pair “clicked” instantly, and would spend up to 11 hours a day talking on the phone, prompting Laura to fly to the US to visit the 21-year-old at the prison where he was locked up.
After six weeks, Joshua proposed to his German reality star girlfriend, and the pair tied the knot at Washington State correctional facility in June.
Now the 26-year-old has opened up about how the pair get intimate, which she said was difficult as she has never even seen her husband without his prison uniform on, let alone slept with him.
“I can send pictures, he can’t so I always get so mad, I have to use my imagination so intensely because I haven’t even seen him without his shirt on, not even that,” she told the Excuse My Friend podcast.
She explained that she is allowed to send pictures of herself in lingerie but inmates are not able to reciprocate.
The pair have been able to participate in “phone sex”, which Laura said was the only form of intimacy she can currently enjoy with her husband.
“You’re being recorded so whatever you do on the phone, someone is listening,” she said.
“It can be a little awkward.”
The reality star also opened up about some of the prison rules the pair have to abide by during her visits, including a time limit on how long they can touch each other.
“You get 5 seconds to kiss and 10 to hug, and they [the guards] stare at you and will enforce it when the seconds are over,” she said.
“How am I supposed to enjoy it when I know an officer is watching me? It’s weird.”
While she’s waiting for Joshua to serve the remainder of his seven year sentence, she has come up with a creative way to combat her loneliness.
In a video shared to her TikTok account, she revealed she has a small plush toy with his face printed on it, complete with his two face tattoos.
Laura has shared multiple clips of her sleeping with the toy and carrying it with her around her house – even her mum has got in on the action, giving the Joshua toy a kiss on the forehead in one video.
However, while Laura might be happy in her relationship, others are not as convinced.
“I just want to know how down bad you have to be to date a man in prison,” wrote one critic in the comments section.
“You’re standards must be really low to marry a low life,” said another person.
“You do whatever makes you happy and don’t worry about what anyone else says, it’s none of their business,” commented a third follower.
“People don’t understand that not everyone in jail is a bad person,” said another TikTok user.
This article was originally published on News.com.au and has been republished here with permission.
