Lenny Kravitz Has Been Celibate For 9 Years to Avoid Being a 'Player'

Lenny Kravitz has revealed that he has been celibate for nearly a decade.

The well-known heartthrob has not had sex in nine years in an effort to not become a "player" like his father. While he would love to be in a relationship, he believes that being "set in his ways" could lead him to struggle to keep love in his life.

"It's a spiritual thing," he says to The Guardian. "I have become very set in my ways, in the way I live."

At a young age, Kravitz found out that his father was having an affair by hearing a conversation he was having with another woman on the phone. Once he confronted his dad - NBC news producer Sy Kravitz - about cheating on his mom, his father told him he would follow in his footsteps.

Following the devastation of his father's infidelity, Kravitz admitted that he saw himself going down the same path.

"He became right," the "American Woman" hitmaker said. "After the marriage, I became more like him. I was becoming a player .. I didn't like it. I didn't want to be that guy. So I had to tackle that and it took years."

The Hunger Games actor went on to say that he was able to avoid inheriting his father's promiscuous traits "by taking responsibility. Discipline. Not letting my own desires take over." One of the results has been celibacy.

The "Are You Gonna Go My Way' hitmaker also detailed being assaulted at 13-years-old by a woman in her 20s. While he did not recognize it as predatory behavior at the time, he now classifies it as "abuse and assault" by today's standards.

"In today's world, yes, that was abuse and assault. It was this chick who saw this young teenager and thought I was cute and I'm going to give him some. Any young boy would have taken that opportunity and enjoyed the hell out of it," Kravitz, who was a virgin at the time, revealed. "I mean, she stopped, and I can't speak for everyone, but that would have been a fantasy for so many kids. But, for me, it's not what I wanted."

While many openly regard Kravitz as one of Hollywood's most desirable studs, he shares that he has never looked at himself as a sex symbol.

"I'm telling you the truth. I have grown to accept myself and be comfortable with myself, but I have never been one to look in a mirror and go: 'Ooh yeah, look at that! You're so beautiful.' And especially not back then, as a teen. Absolutely not," he shared.

Kravitz is now heading to Las Vegas for a five-night residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM. He looks at the event as a warm up to introduce audiences to his new album, Blue Electric Light.

"[Las Vegas has] always been a great part of entertainment history, and I thought it'd be a great warm-up, a great place to start and present Blue Electric Light to America," he shared with People.

Tags

Lenny Kravitz, Rock, Memoir