The thing she was saying, which varied, you know, they could be really severe attacks on my physical appearance or spreading rumors and lies or just vulgar, disgusting commentary.

It really has an impact when you just sing it on repeat, on repeat, on repeat.

I was worried that it would be seen and that this would start to impact my reputation.

I'm Jamie Beebe. And I'm Jake Debtula. On today's episode of Strickly Stock and we're speaking with Nicole Madigan, who was stocked for over three years by a woman who was obsessed with her.

During those three years, the stocker put Nicole's personal and professional life in turmoil, leaving her trapped and constant fear and anxiety.

Working as a journalist, she turned her ideal into a memoir, described as part investigation and part expert analysis, taking a deep dive into the disturbing obsession of stocking.

Nicole uses her own story to examine the psychology behind stocking behaviors and their impact on victims and survivors.

Nicole, thank you for joining us today.

Thanks for having me.

What inspired you to become a journalist?

I've always loved words. Really, growing up, I was a really avid reader from a really young age and that love of words and writing and reading just stayed with me.

I didn't know straight away that I wanted to be a journalist, I did a communications degree at university and then started working for a little small local newspaper and I stayed with it ever since.

Did you cover a lot of true crime stories while you were working?

In my early reporting days, I did a lot of court reporting, but in more recent years, the true crime that I cover would be more investigative pieces.

I write a lot about domestic violence and family violence and that's an area I'm passionate about, so I write a lot about those sorts of things.

What was going on in your life before your stocker stepped into it?

I was fairly recently separated from my first husband who I met when I was only 18, so we'd been together a really long time.

I was 37 at this time and when the stocking began, life was going quite well.

I'd kind of recovered from all the trauma that naturally comes with the separation and the force. I had three children, so I've settled myself as a single mother and had began dating someone new.

That had been an experience I was quite nervous about because when you go into dating in your late 30s, when you haven't done that since you were a teenager, it's quite a whole new world.

What was dating like after that with kids and were you dating a lot? Were you out there on the scene?

No, not at all. I had been happily just doing my own thing and really trying to reestablish myself as an individual, having been tied to someone for such a long time.

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