R&B artist and sex symbol Omarion is opening up about what it took to control his sexual desires through celibacy.
The Unbothered author was a guest on podcast Know Thyself, where he chatted with host André Duqum about his journey to mental and spiritual wellness, one of those callings being celibacy. Around the 19-minute mark of the video below, Duqum asked Omarion about his life around “sexual energy” and how he was able to detour from it.
“Always being a dancer, you listen to your body. It's interesting that at that particular moment in my life, I kind of took it on as a challenge,” Omarion explained.
The artist recalled his time as a child star in boy band B2K, where he and fellow members were “spooked” with stories involving their peers and sexual experiences. “It was always this like this or that thing like ‘Do you want to have a career? Or do you want to be out here making babies?’” he said. “And we’re like, ‘Huh?’ You know 15, 16, we’re not thinking about that, but it’s a real thing.”
He acknowledged that his songs were often about “making love,” but that his journey took a turn when he began practicing Christianity. “It was just an interesting time. I was really studying my Bible, and ultimately, like I said in my book, it wasn’t for me. But it allowed me to kind of you know step out of this world and have the responsibility of being a sex symbol and being a young adult.”
He continued, “In hindsight, it was preparing me for my contribution to music, me being integral and my words and what I'm saying. Not having to really live a double life.”
Admitting that celibacy with his status was “very weird to some people,” the 39-year-old expressed that there’s “more to life than that.”
“I’m not here to judge anyone, because we all have our journey, I just found myself in that position of wanting to understand my energy, give myself time to grow. And also, I knew that if I could control two areas of my life ,which is food and the urge of sex, then you know nothing can stop me.”
Omarion also shouted out Lenny Kravitz, who’s been celibate for nine years, as having a “different glow.”
Omarion has talked celibacy before, sitting down on Angela Yee’s Lip Service last year, where around the 4-minute mark of the video below, he broke down studying the Jehovah's Witness religious and having a girlfriend during that phase. As for renewing his sexual life, he "realized" that celibacy wasn't for him and that being the process of being "disfellowshipped" from his family was abnormal to him.
Also discussing their celibacy on the podcast was Mýa, who kept her vow for seven years.