Omarion Looks Back on His 3 Years of Celibacy and Says ‘Sheesh!’ Because ‘I Love Women’

Omarion is opening up about the three years he spent practicing celibacy early in his career.

The “Ice Box” singer, 41, appeared on Shawn Stockman’s On That Note podcast on Nov. 12, and explained that he abstained from sex in order to practice “personal control.”

“I was a young man and I was really, at that time, spiritually searching for strength and personal control over myself and my body,” he said. “I did it for three years.”

Omarion said that when he looks back on that time now, “I be like, ‘Sheesh!’ Because I love women. I love women in all their splendor. Friendship, best friend, lover. All that.”

The former Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood star, who was a member of the boy band B2K before going solo in 2005, is no longer celibate, and is a father to son Megaa, 11, and daughter A’mei, 9, with ex-girlfriend Apryl Jones.

But he said on the podcast that he greatly benefited from his time practicing abstinence, as it gave him “the power to say no to anything,” which he feels helped his career.

“It really served its purpose because I always say I’m one of the few guys that I could turn my discipline on and off, and it’s like a cheat code for certain things… I really know how to focus and commit to something because of that discipline,” he explained. “A lot of entertainers end up in some real unfavorable positions because of lack of control.”

Omarion — who toured earlier this year with Bow Wow and Trey Songz on the Millennium Tour — previously opened up about his celibacy journey in a 2024 episode of the Know Thyself podcast, saying it was an “interesting time.”

“I took it on as a challenge. They kind of spooked us out when we were younger. They told us all of the horror stories of the other groups and celebrities and famous people, when they were out on tour,” he explained. “It was always like, ‘Do you want to have a career, or do you want to be out here making babies?’”

He added that it was largely spiritual for him, too, as he was a practicing Christian at the time.

“It’s very weird for some people. A lot of people would be like, ‘He’s young. He’s on top of the world, he just put out an album. You ain’t out here f—ing these hos?’ And I’m like, ‘Nah,’” he said. “There’s more to life than that.”

Omarion is not the only celebrity to speak about celibacy. In 2024, R&B singer Mya said she’d previously been celibate for seven years, and felt the journey brought “mental clarity”to her life.

“Just doing without, it shifted my mindset,” she said on the Way Up with Angela Yee Show. “It was no longer a focus. The rush to be in a relationship, the rush to be married, the rush to be in something because that’s what you’re taught to do – to have kids or procreate. And I think there’s a lot of pressure on women to be able to do that.”

Lenny Kravitz also said he wanted to remain celibate until he found his person, and told The Guardian last year that he hadn’t been in a serious relationship in nine years.

“It’s a spiritual thing,” he explained.