10 Celebs Who Admitted to Having a Sex Addiction

From Jada Pinkett Smith to Lamar Odom, these stars have opened up about their past struggles with sex addiction.

Everyone deals with their own personal struggles and for some people that manifests in the form of addiction. There are millions of people who deal with alcoholism or drug addiction -- and for others, it’s an addiction to sex.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, up to 24 million U.S. adults could be classified as addicted to sex and constantly deal with “excessive sexual thoughts, desires, urges or behaviors that can’t be controlled.”

While it’s not a topic that’s often spoken about, quite a few celebrities have come forward with their struggle with sex addiction, made worse by fame and unlimited access to tempting situations. Through therapy and occasionally a rehab stay, these celebs say they were able to overcome their addiction -- and hope to help others in similar situations.

Find out what these celebs said about their sex addiction…

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1. Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith admits that throughout her life she’s dealt with addiction issues, from alcohol to sex. Looking back, Jada says there was a period of time when she believed that many of her problems could be solved with sex. She was only able to move forward when she got to the root of her issues.

“My sort of addictions jump. They jump around. When I was younger, I definitely think I had a sex addiction of some kind…everything could be fixed by sex,” she said on an episode of Red Table Talk.

She continued, “I am a binger, and I always have to watch myself and I can just get obsessed with things. It’s not what you’re doing but how you’re with it. Why you’re doing it. It’s the behavior that’s attached to it because if you want to have a lot of sex, that’s great, but why are you having all that sex? That’s what you’ve got to look at.”

2. Lamar Odom

Lamar Odom struggled with an addiction to sex that almost led to his death. Throughout his life, Lamar admits he had sexual relationships with more than 2,000 women, cheating on Khloé Kardashian many times during their marriage. On top of that, he explained that sex was a “trigger” for drugs which allowed him to “double up on [that] good feeling.” Those addictions are how he eventually ended up at the Love Ranch brothel in Las Vegas, where he overdosed and nearly died. For him, it was a wake-up call.

“I’m sober now. But it’s an everyday struggle,” Lamar told the Players Tribune. “I have an addiction. I’ll always have an addiction. It never goes away. I mean, I want to get high right now. But I know that I can’t if I want to be here for my children.”

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3. Justin Bieber

Before Justin Bieber tied the knot with his wife Hailey, he says he had “a legitimate problem with sex.” In the years prior to the couple reconnecting, Justin had cut out many of the troublesome activities in his life but sex was his final vice, even though it no longer brought him pleasure. Justin finally cut out sex altogether, hoping it would bring him closer to God.

“He’s like, I’m trying to protect you from hurt and pain. I think sex can cause a lot of pain. Sometimes people have sex because they don’t feel good enough. Because they lack self-worth. Women do that, and guys do that,” he told Vogue. “I wanted to rededicate myself to God in that way because I really felt it was better for the condition of my soul. And I believe that God blessed me with Hailey as a result. There are perks. You get rewarded for good behavior.”

4. Jennifer Lewis

When black-ish actress Jennifer Lewis was in her 20s, she lived with undiagnosed bipolar disorder and a sex addiction. In her memoir, The Mother of Black Hollywood, she explained that it all began when she moved to New York to work on Broadway. After performing on stage each night, she would have trouble coming down from the adrenaline high and would fill the void with sex.

“Performing on Broadway was a rush. The applause coming over the footlights was like a tsunami in slow motion,” she wrote in her book. “The crash after the show, I assure you, is just as intense. Let’s just say that post show I had a sort of habit of sex serving as a nightcap. I was Cleopatra, Pam Grier, Marilyn Monroe, and Jezebel rolled into one. For me, nothing could extend the thrill of a standing ovation like great sex with a gorgeous guy.”

As she continued to struggle with her undiagnosed bipolar disorder, she began self-medicating with alcohol in addition to sex. Eventually, she sought help from a therapist who helped her realize what was really going on.

“Just as alcoholism isn’t really about the liquor, my addiction wasn’t really about the sex. It was about the unresolved psychological problems that caused me pain. Sex was simply my painkiller,” she explained.

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5. A$AP Rocky

A$AP Rocky admits he’s been a sex addict for much of his life -- and has long been open about his sexual activities and the orgies he hosts. Looking back, A$AP says that he believes his addiction began while in junior high and has continued throughout his life.

“I’ve been a sex addict for some time, yeah,” he said on Untold Stories of Hip Hop, per TMZ. “These are things that people stay away from and they don’t like to admit. I can’t be embarrassed about it. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I don’t do nothing that I’m not proud of speaking of.”

6. James Franco

After James Franco faced sexual misconduct allegations from former students at his acting school, he openly admitted that he struggled with sex addiction. He explained that after struggling with an addiction to alcohol from a young age, he gave up drinking and ended up becoming obsessed with sex and validation from women -- but could never get enough.

“It’s such a powerful drug,” he explained on The Jess Cagle Podcast. “I got hooked on it for 20 more years. The insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time. And I went to meetings all that time. I even tried to sponsor other people. So in my head, it was like, ‘Oh, I’m sober. I’m living a spiritual life.’ Where on the side, I'm acting out now in all these other ways, and I couldn't see it.”

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7. Russell Brand

Throughout his life, Russell Brand has struggled with addictions including drugs and alcohol. For many years, he also battled sex addiction which began when he was just a teenager and was only made worse when he found fame.

“When I became sexually aware as a teenager, I got very obsessive about sex and women and pornography. So the problem around sex was present back then. I was very uncomfortable with my body, so my problems were around porn and food. Then I took drugs between 16 and 19 and then heroin,” he told Us Weekly.

He continued, “I lost a lot of weight and moved from the suburbs into the city. Women were now attracted to me. I went sort of crazy with that. The sexual addiction, for me, was worse when I was clean. I think for about five, 10 years it was really bad. Listen, I’m lucky. I was famous. I’m heterosexual. I’m attracted to adult, human females. It’s not complicated. I don’t have any weird tastes. It was a good position to be in if you have that particular problem.”

After ending up in rehab on multiple occasions, Russell has now been free of drug, alcohol and sex addiction for over 20 years.

8.  Mike Caussin

Mike Caussin’s sex addiction eventually led to the end of his marriage to Jana Kramer. Prior to their divorce, the former NFL player cheated on Jana on many occasions and was in and out of rehab for sex addiction. Looking back, Mike explained that having sex became a coping mechanism for him, especially as he struggled to transition to life outside of the NFL.

“It manifests in different ways for different people. It doesn’t come from me wanting to have sex -- it’s me feeling a certain way and from my entire life looking back I just used sex as kind of my escape,” Mike said on Nightline.

He continued, “I can make any kind of excuse between me transitioning from the NFL to ‘the normal world,’ feeling like I lost my identity because I wasn’t a football player anymore. I ran to women, I ran to sex, and that kind of flourished [into] what I later found out was an addiction."

While Mike and Jana worked to stay together through his struggle with addiction, he eventually cheated on her once again and she finally filed for divorce.

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9. David Duchovny

Back in the early 2000s, life imitated art when David Duchovny entered rehab for sex addiction after portraying a sex-obsessed writer on Californication. There had been rumors that he dealt with addiction for years and while he had continually denied them, that changed when he checked into rehab.

“I have voluntarily entered a facility for the treatment of sex addiction," he said at the time. "I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family."

While he has not spoken about his time in rehab, he and his wife Tea Leoni did eventually split.

10. Andra Day

In 2021, Andra Day admitted that she once had a sex and porn addiction that she worked to overcome before taking on the role of Billie Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Andra explained that she wanted the film to focus on the music and not the way Billie was hypersexualized in the world of jazz, which coincided with her own personal struggles.

“I didn’t want any element of sexualization [in the film]. I had come out of something in my own life -- dealing with porn addiction, sex addiction. I’m being very, very candid with you because I’m not the only one. But I knew I wanted all of that very much gone,” she told InStyle.

She continued, “I feel now, after playing Billie, that I’m honoring her, and the strength that is femininity. I’m definitely in a healthier place to enjoy that because I’m outside of the addiction, if you will. So, yeah, it’s been really fun, because it’s been very new for me.”

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