Yvonne Orji On Why She'll Never Tire Of Talking About Being A Virgin

When Yvonne Orji hit the scene and garnered mainstream success as Molly on Insecure last year, she was loud and proud about the fact that she’s very different from her popular character (while still being able to relate to her). For one, while Molly had her share of sexcapades in the inaugural season, in real life, Orji is a virgin. She said at the time that filming her character’s sex scenes wasn’t as awkward as people would think.

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“It’s funny — because I haven’t had sex before, there were technical things they thought they had to teach me,” she said. “But as a woman, you’re in tune with your sexuality. And I’ve seen movies! I’m not a prude. I didn’t grow up in an Amish land with no TVs. So I was like, ‘Hey, I’m familiar with how this works. I’m just not engaging in it.’ It was just a matter of making it realistic.”

After that, her sex life was often the topic of conversation in interviews. But if you were thinking that midway through Season 2 she would be sick and tired of people asking her about a very personal thing, Orji told PEOPLE she’s more than happy to share her story.

“I’m open, because why not?” the 33-year-old said. I’m grounded in who I am.”

“Before any of [the fame] happened, I sat down with myself and with God and thought, when I make it, how do you want me to represent you while I’m here?” she added. “It was like, OK, I know why I’m here. It’s to make you proud.”

And because of that epiphany, and the deep reason she’s abstaining from sex, Orji is more than happy to answer questions about her decision.

“People ask about it because they’re curious, or they may not understand,” she told the magazine. “How will they ever get [sic] understand if I don’t talk about it? I can inform your curiosity, as opposed to everyone being in the dark and just sort of creating their own narrative about it.”