Lenny Kravitz is explaining why he’s been celibate for some time now.
In an in-depth interview for The Guardian, the rock star revealed that he’s been abstaining from sex outside of marriage and how he hasn’t been in a relationship for nine years.
Talking about why he’s looking for more than a short-term, physical connection, Lenny called his decision “a spiritual thing”.
The four-time Grammy winner, who was married to actor Lisa Bonet from 1987 to 1993, also admitted that he’s gotten comfortable being on his own in the nearly decade since he’s been in a relationship.
“I have become very set in my ways, in the way I live,” he said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lenny spoke about how seeing father Sy Kravitz cheat on his mother, actor Roxie Roker, impacted the way he sees relationships.
Remembering how he once confronted his dad after hearing him on the phone with another woman, the Hunger Games star said he was told infidelity was all but inevitable.
Asked if his dad’s prediction came true, Lenny admitted: “He became right.”
“After the marriage, I became more like him. I was becoming a player,” he explained, adding: “I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to be that guy. So I had to tackle that and it took years.”
Celibacy appeared to be key to that change, which Lenny said he was able to make “by taking responsibility. Discipline. Not letting my own desires take over”.
The Fly Away singer initially opened up about being celibate in a 2008 interview with the men’s magazine Maxim, where he said refraining from sex was a personal “promise I made until I get married”.
At the time, he said it had been three years since he’d been intimate with someone.
“Where I’m at in life, the women have got to come with something else, not just the body, but the mind and spirit,” Lenny said.
He added: “It usually trips them out, but that’s the way it’s going to be. I’m looking at the big picture.”
But when asked about his promise by Details three years later, the star said his comments “got blown way out of proportion”.
Read his full interview at The Guardian.