R&B singer Mýa says practicing celibacy helped shift her mindset after being viewed as a sex symbol throughout her career

• R&B singer Mýa says that practicing celibacy for seven years gave her "mental clarity."
• She shared that abstaining from sex helped her with self-love instead of expecting it from others.

R&B singer Mýa says the longest she's been celibate was seven years.

During an appearance on the podcast "Way Up with Angela Yee," the singer opened up about her celibacy journey and how it has helped give her "mental clarity."

"It shifted my mindset. 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 to procreate," Mýa told host Angela Yee.

She added that there is a lot of pressure on women to do that, which she disagreed with.

"Why are we taught we have to be taken or made an honest woman?" Mýa said, adding that practicing celibacy helped her with self-love instead of expecting it from others.

Part of the reason she needed this "reconditioning" was because of how she was viewed as a sex symbol throughout her career, which also impacted her decision to lead a more private life compared to other celebrities.

"You grow up semi-sex symbol. There's a lot of things that are said about you and you ingest all of that, try to process all of that at an early age," Mýa said. "And then the aesthetic you may come with is totally opposite of who you actually really are, and it intersects in your life when you're trying to date or maybe taking photos with other celebrities, and so it can get very tricky."

Mýa isn't the only celebrity who has spoken about going celibate.

Lenny Kravitz told The Guardian in May that he hadn't had sex in nine years because he didn't want to be like his cheating father.

During an appearance on the "Zach Sang Show," Julia Fox said she abstained from sex as a way to take back her reproductive rights in response to Roe v Wade being overturned in 2022.

Similarly, Gen Z women are choosing to take a break from sex to reevaluate their relationships with men, or to recover from bad hookup experiences.

A representative for Mýa did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.