Orlando Bloom was celibate for six months before he started dating Katy Perry

Embed from Getty Images

For some reason, these photos have always stuck in my mind. These pics are from an Golden Globes after-party in 2016. This was not the first time Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry met – they had met socially years before – but it was the start of their relationship. At the time, I thought Orlando just looked SO into Katy and she looked like she was flirting with him a little bit and he was taking it too seriously. There was an air of neediness from him, I guess? That’s what struck me and that’s probably why I’ve always remembered these photos. As it turns out, at the moment these photos were taken, Orlando had been on a six-month celibacy kick. Yeah, that does a lot to explain these photos!

Orlando Bloom is opening up about what his sex life was like before meeting fiancée Katy Perry. In an interview with Britain’s The Sunday Times, the Carnival Row star, 43, revealed he was on a six-month celibacy streak, which ended when he met Perry in 2016. Bloom took the recommendation from his friend, surfer Laird Hamilton after the actor admitted he “wasn’t happy” in early 2016.

“If you want to be serious about a relationship, go celibate for a few months and figure it out,” Bloom recalled of his friend’s suggestion. To his surprise, Bloom stayed abstinent for six months.

“I was going to do three months, but I was really enjoying the way I was relating to women, and to the feminine within myself,” Bloom said.

Asked if he looked to p0rnography as a substitute for sex, the father of one asserted he did “completely nothing” at the time. “It was insane. I don’t think it’s healthy. I don’t think it was advisable. You have to keep it moving down there,” Bloom said.

In fact, the star said he finds that “p0rn is super-disruptive to your sex life, to your libido. They’ve done the studies, they can’t find any kids who don’t watch it. When you watch multiple people at multiple times in one evening, how is your actual real-life partner going to match up? It’s just so destructive.”

After meeting Perry at the Golden Globe Awards in 2016, Bloom said they “hung out and connected” and his time with celibacy came to an end. The pair dated on-and-off from 2016 and got engaged on Valentine’s Day last year.

[From People]

I feel like the timeline might be getting fudged a bit. After these photos – early January 2016 – Katy and Orlando started dating. At first it was somewhat casual, then they got serious within a few months. He seemed like he was all-in immediately. She had recently gotten out of her tortured relationship with John Mayer, and I always felt like she wasn’t actually looking for something serious at the time. Anyway, my guess is that Orlando did stay celibate for a while, but it was in the last half of 2015, because that’s the timeline that makes sense.

As for the idea that celibacy can “reset” a person and help them figure some sh-t out… I agree? You don’t have to be all Justin Bieber about it and make it into a pseudo religious statement. You can just take yourself out for a few months and see how you feel without all of those confusing sex feelings complicating sh-t.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

17 Responses to “Orlando Bloom was celibate for six months before he started dating Katy Perry”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. vertes says:

    Maybe TMI.

  2. Biff says:

    A weak brag, Orlando. Some of us have been celibate for so long our reproductive organs are merely ornamental at this point (I’m clearly speaking for a friend here)

    • Bobbie says:

      I was going to say the same thing. Wow. 6 whole months. Why are men so needy when it comes to sex?

    • Snowslow says:

      Exactly, that made me cackle. OOOOhhhh 6 months.

      But what he says is actually endearing. And since she got with him she developed a style that is not your traditional bombshell Hollywood plastic thing so I am assuming he is a good one, who sees beyond the hourglass figure.

    • Malificent says:

      There are the people who treat sex like a regular requirement like food and water, and the people who don’t. And I’ve discovered there are men and women in both categories.

      Years ago, I had a boyfriend who found out that I had been celibate for something like 8 months before we dated, and he kept teasing me about it like it was some mammoth deal. I didn’t find it especially enjoyable to go without. But I wasn’t in a relationship, and I like casual sex less than I like not getting laid. He just couldn’t fathom that.

      • Bobbie says:

        8 months is nothing. People should be able to be on their own for a while. You don’t want to start dating someone who was just hooking up with a rando the week before.

  3. Sass says:

    I did the same thing before I met my husband. I didn’t like how needy I was and trying so hard to be in a relationship with guys who didn’t care. So I stopped having sex and just enjoyed figuring myself out. And when I met the guy I married, I was fine not being with anyone. I was really loving being single and not hooking up or dating, I was traveling and trying new things. He had to work to convince me. He pursued me. We have been married for twelve years.

    • Mabs A'Mabbin says:

      Same here. But I won’t divulge how long I was celibate because…scary lol. And when I met my husband, he too was riding the lonely boat. And on top of that, we dated for three months (seeing other almost every day) before we, ya know, connected lol. And boy oh boy.

    • Snowslow says:

      I was 19 and ended a very toxic relationship with a boy I was with on and off for about 3 years. And yes, sexually active.
      I decided I wanted not more men, women, sex of any kind in my life.
      Boom, one week later I met my husband who I have been with for about 25 years now.
      We took it easy and we didn’t go for it before a certain time.
      And yes. It was really good to hold on.
      Then we had a distance relationship as I was studying abroad so nothing nothing nothing.

      Edit: also, the sex gets much better along the years. Great point for long lasting relationships. I never get the “after a while the sex is non-existent”.

  4. Lily says:

    I’m 28 and still haven’t had sex. I feel ready but not ready. I sometimes feel like a loser

    • Joanna says:

      Lily, you’re not a loser. It’s your choice as to when to become sexually active.

    • Mtec says:

      @Lily you are so NOT a loser. It’s totally okay to wait till you’re ready. I lost mine when I was 20, and even though it was an okay experience, I still wish I had waited to find someone I really liked, and for me to have liked myself a little better then too. (And sometimes another part of me wishes i had just been wild in my twenties and have had way more sexual partners—but that also comes with the whole wishing I had liked myself better thing… so I think I get it when you say you’re ”ready but not ready”).

      Also i’m the type of person who believes exploring your sexuality by yourself, and for yourself, before you engage in that with anyone else is highly beneficial. Not only do you get to know what you want and how, but also won’t feel the pressure that most women in our society feet to basically act as a vessel solely for the enjoyment and pleasure of men. (Or any kind of other partner really).

      Just my two cents. Try not to be so hard on yourself about this! 🤗

    • Andrew’s Nemesis says:

      @Lily You are definitely NOT a loser. I admire you. You’re being true to yourself and protecting your integrity. Sacrificing that would give cause for regret; as it is, waiting until you’re absolutely ready is the best (most enviable) way.

  5. Ana says:

    Boy, don’t I feel like a loser. I spent 4 years without sex.

    • I'm With The Band says:

      I spent almost 4 years without sex too. It was by choice, but not a conscious “I’m going to be celibate” kind of way. I just never met anyone I wanted to bonk (or get emotionally close to) for a long time. I had plenty of offers, but after a very painful break up, I just couldn’t be stuffed and kinda lost my mojo. It was actually very empowering.

  6. Jens says:

    Don’t gloss over his comments on p!rn, which are very relevant. The p!rn society in which we live makes it feel like six months without a sex partner is odd, when it was the norm even 20 years ago. I’m all about healthy sexual relationships, but people feel pressured to replace quality with quantity.

  7. Dee Kay says:

    When I met my husband in our mid-twenties, we took it slow (had both been in very serious, failed relationships before), and he said ILY before we had sex. I remember telling a friend that and she couldn’t believe a guy would tell me he loved me *before* we had sex, lol!! She said, He must really mean it. And he did. I don’t think there’s any one way to go about the relationship thing, but I do think keeping sex out of the equation for a good long while can be healthy and clarifying. My BFF *and* her husband were both celibate until they got married their 30s!