THEY BEAT IT OUT OF ME
By SAMUEL GOLDSMITH
February 13, 2008 -- The kinky college professor who was almost strangled during an S&M session at a Midtown club told The Post yesterday he's deeply ashamed and is finally through with the double life he's lived since he was kid.
"I don't want this to spoil my marriage," said Robert Benjamin, 67, still disoriented from the three days he spent in a coma but sitting upright in a chair in his room at St. Vincent's Hospital.
"I don't want my wife to leave me, but I have to tell her the truth," he said. "I'm going to share everything with her. I think my family will forgive me,"
Benjamin said he's desperately trying to break his addiction.
"It's like when you crave a turkey," he said. "You eat it and you eat it and you eat it, but you still want it. But now I've had enough. I don't want turkey anymore. I'm full."
His life was saved last Friday by a dominatrix at the Nutcracker Suite on East 33rd Street, who was assigned to check on him after her colleague left him with a dog collar around his neck and a leather mask over his face, suspended a few inches off the floor.
She realized his foot was turning blue because one of his high heels had slipped off.
"I don't want to go to the clubs anymore," Benjamin said.
"I'm trying to learn to control myself and my emotions. I've seen doctors to help me," he said, adding that he's been unable to control his desires "from very early on in my life."
Benjamin managed to keep his shameful secret from his wife, his two kids, who are now adults, and the students he taught at Montreal's Vanier College until his recent retirement.
He never indulged his "dirty habit" in Montreal, where he fooled relatives, neighbors and colleagues into thinking he was a respectable family man who enjoyed outdoor activities.
Benjamin would make regular trips to New York where he'd stay at a "Y" and spend his time indoors.
He'd tell his family he was cross-country skiing upstate, then visiting the city "to take photographs" and eat pizza at his favorite Italian restaurants in Brooklyn.
"My biggest fear has always been that someone would find out. That's why I come to New York and never do this in Montreal," he said.
Hours later, Benjamin's wife, Lynn, arrived at the hospital from Canada, but declined to comment.
Benjamin, who came out of a coma Monday and is still recovering from his ordeal, struggled to remember numbers and dates, but guessed he's been married for "30 years or more."
He does not remember putting on the handcuffs, nipple clamps, dog collar, high-heel shoes or hood, vowing "I'm going to seek professional help to get over this dirty habit.
"The doctors told me I was passed out, but now I'm awake. They saved me, they gave me the confidence that I will be OK."
Benjamin attributes his recovery to his excellent physical health.
"I'm in really good shape," he said. "I bike, I ski, I take care of myself."
He vowed never again to risk his life during his retirement, saying he's relaxing, enjoying his time and "doing all the things I never had the chance to do.
"Now that I've almost died, I can't see myself going back to S&M," he said. "If you gave me $100,000 to spend there, I wouldn't. I'm not crazy."
Taki Noriko, the dominatrix who trussed up Benjamin and left him alone - as he'd requested - was relieved to hear of his recovery.
"Thank you," she said, with a long sigh. "Thank you very much for telling me."
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