15 Stars Who Opened Up About Saving Themselves for Marriage

Playing her character on Insecure may require filming sex scenes, but Orji herself is waiting to tie the knot before having sex IRL. The actress told PEOPLE her faith inspired her to make the decision, long before she got her big break on the HBO show. “Before any of [the fame] happened, I sat down with myself and with God and thought, when I make it, how do you want me to represent you while I’m here?” she said. “It was like, okay, I know why I’m here. It’s to make you proud.”

The 31-year-old singer told Cosmopolitan South Africa that she stands by her decision to wait to have sex until she and Russell Wilson married.  “I really believe that when you focus on a friendship, you have the opportunity to build a strong foundation for a relationship — and once you know you’re really great friends and you’re what we call ‘equally yoked,’ where you share the same values or the same outlook on life, it kind of sets the tone,” Ciara told the magazine. “Knowing that you’ll always have the friendship and that you can always go back to it is very important, and very powerful.” Months after they began dating, the 28-year-old NFL star revealed that the couple vowed to stay celibate. The couple remained true to their promise and tied the knot in July 2016, and three months later, they confirmed they had done the deed by revealing they were expecting their first child together.

“I actually waited until I was married to have sex,” the “Honey I’m Good” singer revealed on The Talk in 2016. “That was not without some porn, unfortunately.” Grammer and his wife, fellow singer-songwriter Aijia, married in 2012. “I do think that, as a culture, we don’t understand the effects of that. I feel for men right now because it’s never been this easy to do something so destructive to yourself,” Grammer said. “It makes my heart sad that we don’t quite understand how destructive that is, on a daily basis, that we can be doing to ourselves.”

Dixon, who got his break on the eleventh season of American Idol before releasing two studio albums that topped the Christian music charts, married his wife Annie in January 2016, and their honeymoon was the first time they slept in the same bed together. “It was kind of strange: we checked into the room and realized, ‘We actually get to go to sleep side by side! This is so cool!’” Colton told PEOPLE. “Anywhere we’ve traveled before, we’ve always gotten two hotel rooms. We wanted to remain pure in that area.” When dating, the two had decided that waiting to have sex until after marriage would make it more meaningful. “It was not easy!” Dixon said. “But I believe sex was designed for marriage, and I knew it would be more meaningful to wait. That was something I grew up thinking and feeling, and I believe the Bible backs it up as well.” Annie added, “It wasn’t because someone was telling me this is what you should do. Deep down in my heart it felt like it was the right thing. And we’re really glad we did. We know God’s hand is on our marriage.”

In 2008, Hough said she was sticking to her vow to remain a virgin until marriage. “I want to be with that special person,” she told CosmoGIRL! in excerpts posted on ET online. “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. I’m not trying to preach consequences here, but I think when you say no, down the line it will be a better decision.” While she hasn’t talked about her decision since (or whether she’s stuck to it), Hough got engaged to hockey player Brooks Laich in August 2015. We can confirm that the two of them have phone sex. (“But I’m really bad at it … I’ll get halfway through and start laughing. It’s an art. I applaud people who are good at it”) The couple married in July 2017.

In 2013, the former Bachelor and his now-wife, Catherine Giudici, told PEOPLE that they would wait until after their wedding to be intimate. “From my perspective, I’ve lived life kind of selfishly for a long time,” Lowe said. “Now, I’m going to try to live it the way I know to be right.” The two wed in 2014 and welcomed a son, Samuel Thomas Lowe, in 2016.

The outspoken star never shied away from discussing her decision to wait until her 2002 wedding to Nick Lachey to consummate their love. “My virginity is something I stand strong in,” she told PEOPLE in 2000. Added Lachey, “It’s not always easy. But I do respect it. Virginity can be cool and sexy.” (Simpson is now married to Eric Johnson, and Lachey to Vanessa Lachey.)

A devout Christian, the New York Jets quarterback admitted in a 2009 interview that he is a virgin, and is saving himself until marriage. “It’s about finding a girl who likes me for me, and not because of what I do, or who I am, or the name,” he told Vogue. In 2016, he opened up about waiting to meet that right person. “I can’t wait, but I think it’s something that I’ll have to trust God for,” he said. “He’ll bring someone along at the right time. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want it, though!”

Before Mowry and Adam Housley tied the knot in 2011, the couple opted to stay celibate in a nod to their faith. “We felt God wanted us to do it,” she told Ebony. “Whenever you’re feeling discouraged just pray together.”

While the star stays mostly mum about her private life, she did take a moment to come out in support of purity rings at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, when host Russell Brand poked fun at the Jo Bros. “It’s not bad to wear a promise ring,” she said from the stage. “Not everybody — guy or girl — wants to be a slut.”

Alongside brothers Nick and Joe, Jonas sported a purity ring as a symbol of his decision to remain a virgin until marriage. Following a two-year courtship, he wed Danielle Deleasa in 2009, but joked to PEOPLE, “I could’ve gotten married the day after we got engaged. We’d have gone crazy waiting any longer.”

While dating NBA star Marko Jaric in 2006, the Victoria’s Secret supermodel emphatically declared to GQ, “Sex is for after marriage,” adding that her boyfriends “have to respect that this is my choice. If there’s no respect, that means they don’t want me.” Three years later, the devout Catholic and her basketball-playing beau eloped on Valentine’s Day. (The two split in 2014 after five years together.)

Previously married to Mario Lopez, Landry took her time with second husband Alejandro Monteverde, whom she wed in 2006. “I was just treading lightly, and did not want to make any mistakes in this relationship,” she said on a March 2012 episode of The Wendy Williams Show. “We abstained from having sex until we got married.”

During their 2008 courtship, Carey and Cannon abstained from sex until their wedding night. “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,” Carey told London’s Daily Mirror. “And it was, and it still is.” (The couple split in 2014 but remain committed to coparenting their 6-year-old twins Monroe and Moroccan.)

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics,” the U.S. track and field star told HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in May 2012 of saving herself for marriage. “I’ve been tempted. I’ve had guys tell me … ‘Hey, you know, if you have sex, it’ll help you run faster.'”