John Legend Admits to Cheating in Past Relationships: 'You Realize You're Happier Being Faithful'

The EGOT winner opened up to Dax Shepard about how "freeing" it is to remain dedicated to one person

Photo: CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty Images

John Legend is a one-woman man — but that wasn't always the case.

Speaking with Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast on Monday, the "All of Me" singer, 41, opened up about his past relationships, admitting that he had cheated on prior partners.

After Shepard, who is married to Kristen Bell, admitted to Legend his "horrendous history" with cheating in past relationships, the EGOT winner said that he, too, has been unfaithful in the past.

"I think yes, I did have a history of it, definitely in my 20s," Legend told Shepard, 45. "I think what happened for me personally is, you go through a lot of your life, like your teens, and I was like the 'two years younger kid than everybody' in high school and college, and so I just didn’t get a lot of girls when I was younger."

"And when I started to get that attention, I loved it. Just ate it up," he explained.

In response to Legend's quote of him saying that he had a history of cheating "definitely" in his 20s, Teigen hilariously wrote on Twitter, "the other s— is the 10's and 30's so u better be talking the tens, idiot."

Chrissy Teigen, John Legend. John Legend/ Instagram

"Part of it, I escaped technically cheating by kind of keeping my relationship ill-defined," the "You & I" singer said. "But it was really cheating. You can try to get off on technicalities ... I was dishonest and selfish and just enjoyed this new attention I was getting."

Legend added that while his cheating happened before he was thrust into the spotlight, it progressed as he became more well-known — that is, until he met wife Chrissy Teigen in 2007.

"At a certain point you just realize, like, you're happier being honest," said Legend, who shares daughter Luna, 4, and son Miles, 2, with the cookbook author. "And you're happier being faithful and being in love with one person."

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen with daughter Luna and son Miles. Chrissy Teigen/Instagram

"And at a certain point, I just decided that that person was Chrissy and I ... just decided I wasn't going to mess with anybody else anymore," he said, adding that monogamy is "so much easier."

"Your whole life is lighter. Like, when you're able to be honest with the person and, like, you aren't hiding texts ... your mind is freer. Everything is better," he continued. "Obviously people have to get to that place and they have to realize that the person they're with is the person that they're ready to do that for, but once you figure that out, it's so freeing."