Celebrities Who Have Opened Up About Celibacy

Lenny Kravitz revealed in a recent interview that he is a celebrity who has been celibate for the past nine years. He shared a personal choice that echoed the experiences of other celebrities who abstain from sexual intimacy. Kravitz, who recently celebrated his 60th birthday, explained his commitment to celibacy as a "spiritual" endeavor. "It's a spiritual thing," he told The Guardian. "I have become very set in my ways, in the way I live." 

His decision illustrates the many reasons why certain celebrities might choose to abstain from having sexual relationships. Some see being celibate as an unconventional lifestyle choice, but celebrities are embracing this path with their own perspectives. Their accounts offer insight into human sexuality and how people navigate relationships.

Read More: Who Has Lenny Kravitz Dated?

One figure who has been vocal about her experience with celibacy is Lady Gaga. Back in 2010, the pop icon stated, "I can't believe I'm saying this – don't have sex. I'm single right now and I've chosen to be single because I don't have the time to get to know anybody. So it's OK not to have sex, it's OK to get to know people. I'm celibate, celibacy's fine," she told Daily Mail. She continued, “It’s OK to be whomever it is that you want to be. You don’t have to have sex to feel good about yourself, and if you’re not ready, don’t do it. And if you are ready, there are free condoms given away at my concerts when you’re leaving!” 

Similarly, actor Andrew Garfield entered on a celibate path while preparing for his role in the 2016 film Silence. He revealed on an episode of the WTF With Marc Maron podcast, "I had an incredibly spiritual experience. I did a bunch of spiritual practices every day, I created new rituals for myself. I was celibate for six months, and fasting a lot because me and Adam [Driver] had to lose a bunch of weight anyway."

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For some celebrities, being celibate has helped them rethink intimacy. Justin Bieber, prior to his marriage to Hailey Bieber, engaged in a period of abstinence as a means of rededicating himself to his spiritual beliefs. "[God] doesn't ask us not to have sex for him because he wants rules and stuff," Bieber explained to Vogue. "He's like, 'I'm trying to protect you from hurt and pain.' I think sex can cause a lot of pain. Sometimes people have sex because they don't feel good enough. Because they lack self-worth."

Similarly, actor Orlando Bloom embraced a six-month celibacy streak before meeting his now-wife Katy Perry. He credited the experience with helping him "relate to women and to the feminine within [himself]" in a more fulfilling way. Bloom revealed to The Sunday Times he was initially aiming for three months of abstinence, but ended up extending it because he was "really enjoying the way I was relating to women." 

In the early 2000s, Hilary Duff was among the celebrities who publicly committed to being celibate until marriage. Duff, who dated Joel Madden, stated at the time, "It's harder having a boyfriend who's older because people just assume. But [virginity] is definitely something I like about myself. It doesn't mean I haven't thought about sex, because everyone I know has had it and you want to fit in," she told Elle magazine in 2006. "But when they talk about it, it doesn't sound special, like you would imagine it to be."

Ciara and her husband, Russell Wilson, famously abstained from sex until their marriage. It was a decision they described as challenging but ultimately rewarding for their relationship. In 2015, Wilson said during an interview at The Rock Church, "I asked her, 'What would you do if we took all that other stuff off the table and did it Jesus' way, no sex?'"

He continued, “I knew God had brought me into her life to bless her and for her to bless me and to bless so many people with the impact that she has and I have. We’re not going to be perfect, by any means.” Ciara and Wilson were married a year later and, the following year, welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sienna. In July 2020, the singer gave birth to their son, Win.

Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, embraced a similar path. As part of the Jonas Brothers' well-known commitment to purity rings and abstinence until marriage, Jonas was one of the celebrities who kept his promise to stay celibate until his 2009 wedding day. He later reflected to People, "I could've gotten married the day after we got engaged. We'd have gone cra-zy waiting any longer."

Actress Yvonne Orji, known for her role in the series Insecure, has spoken openly about her decision to remain celibate until marriage, which she says is motivated by her religious convictions. Despite portraying highly sexual scenes on the show, Orji has remained steadfast in her personal commitment to abstinence. "There was a woman on campus who did the Bible study. She was a med student, she was beautiful and when I heard it, I was like, 'Do what?' And she was 26. She was a virgin too. And she was like, 'I want to honor Him. it's the least that I could do,'" Orji said on The Breakfast Club in 2016. "And I'm real competitive — I have three older brothers — I don't know why that was the thing I was competitive about. But I was like, 'She can do it. I can do it.'

For Nick Cannon, celibacy has been an on-again, off-again part of his life's journey. After welcoming his 8th child in 2021, Cannon revealed he had started a "celibacy journey" on the advice of his therapist. He explained, "My therapist was one of the [people] who said that I should probably be celibate because I had shared that news, that Bre was pregnant. That was the reason why I started my celibacy journey back then," Cannon explained during a conversation with Angela Yee on his talk show in January 2022, referring to the model who was expecting his eighth child. " ... I was [celibate] because I was dealing with [this]."

On the other hand, model and media personality Amber Rose has been outspoken about embracing long-term celibacy out of disillusionment with modern dating. In a candid interview on the Sofia with an F podcast, she declared, "I don't want to share my house or my life with anyone. I don't want anyone around my kids. I don't want to have sex. It's so gross. I don't want it."

Rapper Nicki Minaj has also been open about periods of celibacy in her life. In 2017, she revealed she had taken a break from sex and dating, encouraging her fans to do the same. “I’m just chillin’ right now,” she said. “I’m celibate. I wanted to go a year without dating any man. I hate men," she said during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. 

For actor Terry Crews and his wife Rebecca King-Crews, a vow of celibacy played a crucial role in rebuilding their marriage after Crews' struggle with pornography addiction and infidelity. Crews told Entertainment Tonight, "I went on a 90-day sex fast [with] her...It took me back to a time when I was 12 years old and I liked a girl and I didn't know anything about sex. But all I did was give her a flower and say, 'I like you for who you are.'" 

Mariah Carey is another celebrity who has spoken about the positive effects of abstinence. Prior to her 2008 marriage to Nick Cannon, Carey practiced celibacy, explaining, "It's not that we had NO intimacy, we just didn't have complete intimacy...I just thought that it would be so much more special if we waited until after we were married."

“I definitely don’t want to push it on anybody else,” she added. “But we both have similar beliefs, and I just thought that it would be so much more special if we waited until after we were married. And it was, and it still is.”

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