Celebs Who Have Been Candid About Practicing Celibacy Over the Years: Nick Cannon, Hilary Duff and More

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Celebs Who Have Been Candid About Practicing Celibacy Over the Years: Nick Cannon, Hilary Duff and More

Over the years, many celebrities have opened up about their personal choice to abstain from sex, whether it's for a few months or until marriage. In October 2021, Nick Cannon made headlines when he announced his decision to stay celibate after welcoming his seventh child earlier that year. “I’m going to see if I could make it to 2022," the Wild ’N Out host said during a “Drinks Champs” interview at the time. The MTV personality previously welcomed twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-wife Mariah Carey in 2011. One year after the pair finalized their divorce in 2016, Cannon welcomed son Golden with Brittany Bell. In December 2020, Bell gave birth to their daughter Powerful Queen. In June 2021, Abby De La Rosa gave birth to twins Zion and Zillion with the Masked Singer host. The California native also welcomed son Zen with Alyssa Scott that same month. Tragically, the infant died from a brain tumor in December 2021. The rapper later told Extra that he was “trying to be responsible” by abstaining from sex, saying, “I'm trying to lead by example because I am a father of many. I gotta show self-preservation, self-control, discipline. It's those aspects. I've done it before. I think the longest I've ever gone is probably a year and a half. I was in church every day!” [jwplayer JNyhTseR-zhNYySv2] In January 2022, Cannon confirmed that he was expecting a child with Bre Tiesi. He admitted that he “didn’t know what to do” when he realized that he was going to be a father of eight. “I felt like I was out of control and honestly, celibacy did help me through the journey of getting one with myself and being able to deal with this,” he explained on The Nick Cannon Show that same month, adding that he was no longer committed to the vow. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker have also been candid about briefly taking a break from sexual activity. “Oh, my God, it was crazy,” the reality star told Bustle in March 2022 about the couple's past sex fast. “But it actually made everything better.” The Poosh founder, who got engaged to the musician in October 2021, noted that reconnecting after the break made things hotter than ever. “Like, if you can’t have caffeine, when you have your first matcha, it’s so good.” Scroll on to see all the stars who got honest about abstaining from sex through the years: [podcast_block]

Credit: Shutterstock (3)

Celebs Who Have Been Candid About Practicing Celibacy Over the Years: Nick Cannon, Hilary Duff and More

Over the years, many celebrities have opened up about their personal choice to abstain from sex, whether it's for a few months or until marriage. In October 2021, Nick Cannon made headlines when he announced his decision to stay celibate after welcoming his seventh child earlier that year. “I’m going to see if I could make it to 2022," the Wild ’N Out host said during a “Drinks Champs” interview at the time. The MTV personality previously welcomed twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-wife Mariah Carey in 2011. One year after the pair finalized their divorce in 2016, Cannon welcomed son Golden with Brittany Bell. In December 2020, Bell gave birth to their daughter Powerful Queen. In June 2021, Abby De La Rosa gave birth to twins Zion and Zillion with the Masked Singer host. The California native also welcomed son Zen with Alyssa Scott that same month. Tragically, the infant died from a brain tumor in December 2021. The rapper later told Extra that he was “trying to be responsible” by abstaining from sex, saying, “I'm trying to lead by example because I am a father of many. I gotta show self-preservation, self-control, discipline. It's those aspects. I've done it before. I think the longest I've ever gone is probably a year and a half. I was in church every day!” [jwplayer JNyhTseR-zhNYySv2] In January 2022, Cannon confirmed that he was expecting a child with Bre Tiesi. He admitted that he “didn’t know what to do” when he realized that he was going to be a father of eight. “I felt like I was out of control and honestly, celibacy did help me through the journey of getting one with myself and being able to deal with this,” he explained on The Nick Cannon Show that same month, adding that he was no longer committed to the vow. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker have also been candid about briefly taking a break from sexual activity. “Oh, my God, it was crazy,” the reality star told Bustle in March 2022 about the couple's past sex fast. “But it actually made everything better.” The Poosh founder, who got engaged to the musician in October 2021, noted that reconnecting after the break made things hotter than ever. “Like, if you can’t have caffeine, when you have your first matcha, it’s so good.” Scroll on to see all the stars who got honest about abstaining from sex through the years: [podcast_block]

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Andrew Garfield

The Hacksaw Ridge star opened up about the lengths he went to for the 2016 Martin Scorsese movie Silence, in which he and Adam Driver played 17th century Jesuit priests who travel to Japan to find their mentor.

“I had an incredibly spiritual experience," Garfield said on an August 2022 episode of the "WTF With Marc Maron" podcast. "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 had to lose a bunch of weight anyway. It was very cool, man. I had some pretty wild, trippy experiences from starving myself of sex and food at that time."

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Alexa PenaVega and Carlos PenaVega

"What God was doing inside our hearts turned out to be about more than sex. For the rest of our engagement, Carlos didn’t get the sex he wanted. But that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? Marriage isn’t about getting what you want," the actress detailed in the couple's memoir What If Love Is the Point? Living for Jesus in a Self‑Consumed World, which was released in June 2022.

Alexa continued: "In that most intimate partnership, each partner is called to make sacrifices for the other. So you don’t always get all the sex you want. Or you don’t always get all the sleep you want. You might not even get the diamond ring you wanted. But what you get, we discovered, can be better than what you thought you wanted."

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Ben Higgins

During a May 2022 appearance on the “Talking It Out" podcast,*** Higgins opened up about how he and his wife, Jessica Clarke, “successfully accomplished” abstaining from pre-marital sex.

“There’s multiple angles to why that decision was made,” the season 20 Bachelor explained. “I think people hear it from the outside and they assume it was strictly a faith decision. It wasn’t solely that.”

He continued: “We both believe in Jesus. That is something that is at the foundation [and] the corner of our life. It is what we try to have everything come out of. We also, because of that, do believe that sex is sacred. We believe it is something very powerful. Something very important to consider and hold dear, to talk about, to express. We also believe it's an awesome thing. It's a gift."

The reality star explained that while he had previously been sexually active in his life, his wife had not and the couple had a conversation about how to move forward.

"We both talked it out and said, 'What is the wise thing to do here for us?'" he explained. "It was, 'Hey, you've worked so hard to keep this moment special for you and I have had failed relationships where that has been a part of my life. And so, let's try. Like, let's see what happens there because we have a whole life together.'"

The Indiana native admitted waiting for marriage “wasn’t easy," but it “forced [the couple] to grow stronger in [their] commitment to each other.”

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Terry Crews

Before the release of his 2022 book, Tough: My Journey to True Power, Crews got candid about how his addiction to pornography almost ruined his marriage to Rebecca King-Crews.

“My wife knew something was wrong because we kept getting farther and farther apart," he recalled to Entertainment Tonight that April. "And when she addressed me and finally put the question to me, 'What is it that I don’t know about you, Terry Crews?' And I told her ... I was thinking, 'Well, you know, finally we can get past this.' She was like, 'Uh uh, nope, I’m out. I’m gone.'"

After working together to move past their issues, the couple decided to go on a months-long “sex fast” to reignite their relationship. "I went on a 90-day sex fast [with] her,” the Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum explained. “And people were like, 'Whoa, that's crazy!' But let me tell you something [--]**— what was so beautiful about that, was it took me 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.'["]**CUT And it wasn't about sex. It took us back to those moments. I felt like I was 12 years old again, because sex had been taken out of the equation and it was all about love again."

He added: "I couldn't believe it. It was the best. At first, I was like, 'Oh, my God, this is gonna be horrible.' It was the best thing that we had ever done."

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Justin Bieber

During an interview with Vogue, Bieber reflected on his "self-imposed tenure of celibacy" that started more than one year before he rekindled his romance with now-wife Hailey Baldwin.

"Sometimes people have sex because they don’t feel good enough," he explained in June 2018. "Because they lack self-worth. Women do that, and guys do that. I wanted to rededicate myself to God in that way because I really felt it was better for the condition of my soul."

The Canada native noted that he and Baldwin continued the commitment until they tied the knot.

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Nick Cannon

"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," Cannon explained during a conversation with Angela Yee on his talk show in January 2022, referring to the model who is expecting his eight child. "That was the reason why I started my celibacy journey back then. ... I was [celibate] because I was dealing with [this]."

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Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker

In March 2022, Kardashian recalled taking part in an Ayurvedic cleanse which led to a brief sex fast for her and Barker. 

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Ciara and Russell Wilson

The couple, who started dating in 2015, opened up about their decision to remain celibate until marriage.

“I asked her, ‘What would you do if we took all that other stuff off the table and did it Jesus’ way, no sex?'” Wilson said during an interview at The Rock Church in July 2015. “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 tied the knot one year later and welcomed their first child, daughter Sienna, the following year. The singer gave birth to their son, Win, in July 2020.

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Briana DeJesus

“I’ve been single and celibate for 8 months,” the MTV personality tweeted in February 2022. “After I hit a year, I’m going on bumble and hinge. 😂.”

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Lady Gaga

"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," the "Born This Way" performer told the Daily Mail in 2010. "So it’s OK not to have sex, it’s OK to get to know people. I’m celibate, celibacy’s fine."

She added: "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!"

The American Horror Story alum was engaged to Taylor Kinney from 2015 until 2016. They dated for five years ahead of their split. Gaga moved on with Christian Carino in February 2017, but they called off their engagement two years later. She was later linked to Michael Polansky.

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Jessica Simpson

Simpson was vocal her plans to remain celibate until her 2002 nuptials to Nick Lachey. The pair separated in November 2005 and their divorce was finalized in July 2006.

The Open Book author later moved on with John Mayer, Tony Romo and Billy Corgan. In 2010, Simpson started dating Eric Johnson and they announced their engagement later that year. The pair, who tied the knot in 2014, share daughters Maxwell and Birdie and son Ace.

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Kevin Jonas

During their Disney days, Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas famously wore purity rings to show their devotion to celibacy until marriage. After Joe and Nick opted to remove theirs before dating their now-wives, Kevin kept his on until he tied to the knot with Danielle Jonas.

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Carrie Underwood

The singer was open about her plans to stay celibate before marrying Mike Fischer in 2010.

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Julianne Hough

“I think [the choice] to have sex before marriage is an individual one, but if you’re just with one person, it’s only for one good reason, and [waiting to have sex] will strengthen that relationship," Hough told CosmoGIRL! in 2008. "I’m not trying to preach consequences here, but I think when you say no, down the line it will be a better decision.”

The professional ballroom dancer married Brooks Laich in 2017. The pair announced their separation in May 2020.

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Yvonne Orji

The Insecure alum has previously discussed her decision to remain celibate for personal and religious reasons.

"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.'

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Madison Prewett

During Peter Weber's season of The Bachelor in 2020, Prewett revealed that she was abstaining from sex until marriage.

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Colton Underwood

After coming out as gay, Underwood addressed his previous label as the virgin Bachelor. “I was a full virgin [before The Bachelor], and I could never give anybody a good answer of why I was a virgin,” he said during Good Morning America in April 2021. “The truth is I was a virgin Bachelor because I was gay, and I didn't know how to handle it.”

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Hilary Duff

Duff, who dated Joel Madden in the early 2000s, was candid about her desire to remain celibate. 

"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."

Four years later, the Disney alum married Mike Comrie in August 2010. They welcomed their son, Luca, in March 2012 before calling it quits two years later.

Duff moved on with Matthew Koma and the couple share daughters Banks (born in 2018) and Mae (born in 2021). They tied the knot in a low-key wedding ceremony in December 2019.