Actress Yvonne Orji, star of HBO’s “Insecure,” has revealed that she’s a Christian who plans on abstaining from sex until she’s married — a stance and public admission that are quite rare in Hollywood.
“I’m open, because why not?” Orji, 33, recently told People Magazine. “I’m grounded in who I am.”
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It’s also quite surprising, considering that “Insecure” includes some “graphic sex scenes” that Orji is a part of, as The Los Angeles Times noted. Some critics, of course, will see those on-screen actions as contradictory to her personal convictions.
In the end, though, Orji said that she holds a very different standard in her own life than does Molly, the character she plays on “Insecure.” Before achieving fame, Orji said she sat down with God and pondered the type of person she would want to be.
She had previously decided at age 17 to save herself for marriage.
“I … thought, when I make it, how do you want me to represent you while I’m here?” Orji recalled. “The HBO star says she answered her own question: ‘It was like, OK, I know why I’m here. It’s to make you proud.'”
Watch Orji talk about her virginity in a TEDx talk below:
The actress has also openly discussed the jokes that people make about her last name, especially in light of her decision to remain a virgin until marriage, telling The Huffington Post that she believes Jesus has a sense of humor.
“I think He’s funny. I think He’s just like, ‘I’m gonna sprinkle something down there and see how that sticks,'” she quipped earlier this year. “I see you, Jesus.”
Orji is so devoted to her sex stance that she has a clothing company called Rock Your Stance, which promotes abstinence and other Christian themes.
The actress, who emigrated to America from Nigeria when she was only 6 years old, also told People about her past struggles being bullied due to her thick accent as well as the details behind her journey into comedy and acting.
“There was no signs of me wanting to do this,” Orji said, noting that she has a Master’s degree in public health from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. “We didn’t grow up with TV as a viable means of supporting yourself.”
In the end, though, the actress is enjoying her Hollywood career.
“My faith is the thing that grounds me,” she told HuffPo.