5 Celebs Who Didn't Have Sex Until Later In Life (Which Is Totally Normal!)
It probably goes without saying that many people consider having sex for the first time to be a pretty big deal. One minute you're someone who's only seen sex in movies, read about it in books, or maybe even watched some porn with your partner, then a few thrusts later, you either understand the hoopla surrounding sex or you may decide it's completely overrated. For women, though, there's lot of pressure placed on the "first time" because Western society is still hung up on social constructs like "virginity."
"Instead of saying, 'losing your virginity,' I use the words, 'making your sexual debut.' Losing usually has a negative connotation, and your sexual debut should be a positive experience," licensed psychotherapist and sex therapist Mary Fisher, CMHC tells Bustle. "Considering the fact that there are many ways to start being sexual with another person, it simply makes more sense to define your 'sexual debut' as a premiere series of consensual sexual explorations with another person."
According to the Center for Disease Control, the average age at which women and men first have penis-in-vagina sex is 17.3 and 17.0, respectively. But averages aside, it's important to know there's no right or wrong age to have sex for the first time. It's something that happens when you feel ready and that could be 15 for one person, 30 for someone else, or maybe even far older for another. If you're concerned about the age you were when you first did it, don't be. It happens when it happens, and some of your favorite celebrities didn't have sex until later in life too.
Rebel Wilson
When Rebel Wilson's memoir, "Rebel Rising" was published in early April of this year, the actress didn't hold back and basically spilled the beans about everything. Although the book dropped a lot of surprises, there were two in particular that the Internet can't stop talking about: Rebel devoting an entire chapter to just how awful actor Sacha Baron Cohen allegedly is, and the fact that she didn't have sex until she was 35.
"Nobody knew that about me, and I just thought, 'If I'm going to write a memoir, I'm just going to put everything in it,'" Wilson said on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, adding that she was glad she did it for the first time on her terms. "There's a lot of people who have been writing to me on social media saying they were also late bloomers... Young people don't need to feel pressure to be sexualized at a young age," Wilson said.
Adriana Lima
Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima definitely knows a thing or two about being sexualized by our culture, but despite that, as a Catholic, she's always adhered to the teachings of the church. In 2006, Lima sat down with GQ for an interview that was aptly (and offensively) called, "Adriana Lima: Our Favorite... Virgin?"
When Lima was asked about her Catholic beliefs, she said, "Well, you know, sex is just for after marriage." As the interviewer pushed the topic, asking if she was sure she'd never had sex — Lima had never been married at the time — she doubled down on her stance and explained her feelings about men who might not be on board with waiting until marriage for sex. "I don't care," Lima said. "They have to respect that this is my choice. If there's no respect, that means they don't want me."
In an interview with HuffPost in 2013, Lima confirmed she didn't have sex until she was 27 when she married former basketball player Marko Jarić in 2009. Lima and Jarić had two kids together before separating in 2014, with their divorce being finalized in 2016.
Jessica Williams
In 2016, former senior correspondent of "The Daily Show," star of Apple TV's "Shrinking," and all around amazing human and comedian Jessica Williams told Cosmopolitan that she didn't have sex until she was 25. After explaining that she grew up "super Christian" with both parents being ministers and having done a purity ceremony, she was asked at what age she first had sex. "I was 25 and I just remember it being like, 'Oh, OK, all right, cool.' But I was comfortable with my partner," said Williams. "It was someone who was f*ckin' rad and could take care of me and make sure I was OK. But it wasn't like a crazy, out-of-body, floating around on a cloud thing. It's like, 'Oh, OK, tight.' And then it just got dope." Williams also added, "I'm happy I waited, but I don't have second thoughts about pulling the trigger and just knocking that out."
Tamera Mowry
In 2013, the former "Sister, Sister" star Tamera Mowry told HOT97, "I don't know how to explain this. I'm religious, so I waited until I was 29 to lose my virginity. You may not understand this [but] I did it, then I felt guilty, then I became celibate until I got married." In 2011, at the age of 32, Mowry married journalist and former Fox News reporter Adam Housley.
In the same interview with HOT97, former member of The Cheetah Girls, Adrienne Bailon, defended Mowry's decision to wait, saying, "Just because you only had sex with one person doesn't mean you're not a freak, and I think that that's a good thing. I think people think that you could only be a freak by doing it with a bunch of people. You can be a freak and just be a freak with one person. That is beautiful and dope." That is, indeed, beautiful and very true.
Lisa Kudrow
Although trying to find the exact 1999 interview where everyone's beloved "Phoebe Buffay" talks about the first time she had sex will lead you in circles, multiple sources report that Lisa Kudrow was 31 when she first did the deed. Per Fox News, the "Friends Star," who married advertising executive Michael Stern in 1995 said in an interview, "I don't know if you'd characterize me as uptight, but I understood what it is to be so afraid of sex — of your sexuality. For me it was just, 'No, I'm saving myself because I have to make myself worthy of the kind of man I have in mind.'"
Ultimately, when a person chooses to have sex for the first time is your business, and a decision you make with your partner. It doesn't matter the number of years you've been on the planet or what your peers might be doing. When you're ready, you'll know it, so that's when you'll do it.