Cover photo by Getty Images, retrieved from HarpersBazaar. 8-minute read.
Any time a celebrity speaks up about porn’s harmful effects, countless more people have the opportunity to see what the research is saying.
It isn’t common that you’ll hear a public statement, though, given the taboo and sometimes controversial topic of porn. These high-profile public figures are usually pretty careful with what they say to the media, especially when talking about subjects that a lot of people aren’t eager to chat about.
However, due to the science and research that is coming out regularly on the harmful effects of porn, more and more celebrities are starting to take a stand and voice their opinions about the prevalence of porn in our society, and how it has affected them personally.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of athletes and actors who have directly and publicly addressed the issue of pornography and why they think it’s harmful.
Of course, there are plenty more celebs who don’t support it, but these are stars who have been the most outspoken, bold, or insightful in talking about porn’s harms.
Their reasons and experiences are varied, but the message all boils down to the same fact: porn is not simply harmless personal entertainment.
MARISOL NICHOLS
You may know Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge in the hugely popular Warner Bros and Netflix critically-acclaimed hit television series Riverdale.
To some, the Chicago native is an actress, but to others, she’s a hero. After learning about the rampant issue of human trafficking, Marisol has worked with law enforcement and state and federal legislators for over a decade to help catch child sexual predators and human traffickers by going undercover. She also founded Foundation for a Slavery Free World, a non-profit that produces events in Hollywood to raise awareness on trafficking and awards individuals and other non-profit groups for their heroic work in this field.
Recently, we sat down with Marisol to talk about her anti-trafficking efforts for our podcast, Consider Before Consuming. In our conversation, she explained how child trafficking and mainstream pornography are connected:
“I believe, believe what you guys do and if you’re watching horrible stuff, you should just think about it. Like there’s a guy and he’s watching ‘normal porn,’ whatever that is watching ‘normal porn.’ And then that doesn’t do it for him. So he clicks here and he clicks here and he clicks here and he clicks here and he starts going darker and darker and darker and darker. Where does that lead?… His kids, that’s the end. And so if we can…educate people before they even get into that trap, that would be huge.”
Because of the connection between sex trafficking and pornography, Marisol has been speaking against the porn industry.
You can learn more about Foundation for a Slavery Free World at www.slaveryfreeworld.org and connect with Marisol on Instagram at @marisolnichols.
TERRY CREWS
Crews first spoke out about pornography in his book Manhood, where he opened up about how he was addicted to since the age of 12, and how his porn habit deeply affected his marriage.
He repped one of our “Porn Kills Love” tees in an exclusive Fighter Club color while quarantining at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. What a legend.
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We were able to sit down with him after this post and have a conversation for our podcast, Consider Before Consuming. Click here to listen now.
But this was far from his first time talking about porn as a public issue.
A couple of years ago, Terry began using the Facebook live video feature to go in-depth about his past struggle, how it damaged his relationships, and how we was able to finally overcome it. In a series of videos to his 8 million+ Facebook audience, Terry Crews addressed what he called his “dirty little secret.”
“This thing has become a problem, I think it’s a worldwide problem,” Terry said in his first Dirty Little Secret video. “Pornography really messed up my life in a lot of ways. Some people deny it and say, ‘Hey man you can’t really be addicted to pornography, there’s no way.’ But I’ll tell you something: if day turns into night and you’re still watching, you probably got a problem. And that was me.”
The real-talk video series quickly gained millions of views, and was picked up by news outlets like CNN and The Today Show, generating a nationwide discussion on the harms of pornography.
In an excerpt from an interview with the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Crews and his wife of 25 years, Rebecca, opened up about the effect it had on their life together:
Joyner: “Terry, did you have a collection or was it just online?”
Crews: “Online. It wasn’t a collection, I was smart enough not to keep anything in the house… I (was) suffering from something. I was a loving father, husband, the whole thing, but in the back of my mind I needed something like pornography just to chill. It’s almost like not admitting you’re an alcoholic or something like that. But the thing is, you can’t live in two worlds, and I was getting farther and farther away from Rebecca. Pornography is an intimacy killer. It just started building up a wall. A lot of people get divorced and they don’t even understand how the separation began. It wasn’t that she caught me. She was like, ‘Something is wrong with you,’ and I finally had to admit it was a problem… I realized I couldn’t stop.”
Terry officially joined the #PornKillsLove movement a few years ago by repping one of our popular Porn Kills Love tees and giving Fight the New Drug a shout out to his millions of followers.
Both Terry and Rebecca Crews follow Fight the New Drug on Instagram and Twitter. They are relationship goals for sure.
ORLANDO BLOOM
This Pirates of the Caribbean and Carnival Row star has joined with a number of other celebrities who are speaking out about how porn can warp your sense of reality and sexual expectations.
Before meeting his now-fiancée, singer Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom took the suggestion of a friend and went 6 months without hooking up with anyone. In that time, he realized how his sexpectations had kept him from connecting to women on a friendship level.
While he was taking a break from casual sex, Bloom also understood porn’s negative effects for himself. When asked if he looked to pornography as a substitute for sex, Bloom insisted he did “completely nothing” during those months.
“Porn is super-disruptive to your sex life, to your libido,” Bloom said in a March 2020 interview with The U.K.’s The Sunday Times.
“They’ve done the studies, they can’t find any kids who don’t watch it. When you watch multiple people at multiple times in one evening, how is your actual real-life partner going to match up?” he noted. “It’s just so destructive.”
Science and research would agree with you, Bloom.
EMMA THOMPSON
When it comes to British actors, few are more accomplished than Emma Thompson who has appeared in 40 films, and has been nominated for five Academy Awards and won two. The London-born actress has starred in such films as Harry Potter as Professor Trelawney, Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, Stranger Than Fiction, and Saving Mr. Banks.
And in addition to her incredible career, we’re celebrating Thompson for the fact that she’s unafraid to speak out against the harms of pornography in our society.
In a 2014 interview with the UK’s Daily Mail, Thompson declared that she was waging war on “internet slime.” The actress explained that between movies, she focuses on educating her daughter on the dangers of online porn. Like a lot of parents, she expressed her deep worries about porn and hyper-sexuality on social media where she says “there’s no jurisdiction or protection.”
She even revealed she has created a handbook for her daughter to help guide her through the maze of online dangers. “Those quick clicks are dangerous,” she says.
Thompson also talks about her concerns for young men who look at pornography online and “cannot function sexually because they’ve lost the use of their imagination.”
Recently, she worked on a documentary about online sex abuse, and narrated an independent film that explores the dangers of living in a tech-obsessed society influenced by porn and isolated communication behind the protection of a screen.
CHRIS ROCK
“One of the things I’ve done in the last year, not just going to therapy, I’ve gotten off of social media. I got off all social media, I don’t watch pornography anymore, and my brain is like—I’m focused, man.”
This quote is from Chris Rock during a podcast interview in September 2020 (FTND note: the content in the interview discusses political and religious issues on which FTND has no stance as a non-religious and non-legislative nonprofit).
In the last couple of years, comedian Chris Rock has joined with other celebrities in speaking out on the life-changing harmful effects of pornography.
Related: Why Comedian Chris Rock Doesn’t Watch Porn Anymore
He isn’t just talking about quitting his porn habit in podcasts though, he’s taken his experiences to the main stage. In his Netflix special, Rock opened up in his first tell-all stand-up routine in almost a decade.
Here’s an excerpt from the special, edited for language:
“When you watch too much porn, you know what happens?… You get desensitized. When you start watching porn, any porn will do. Then, later on, you’re all f—ed up and you need a perfect porn cocktail to get [aroused]. I was so f—ed up … I’m a lot better now.”
Now, we know that Chris Rock is a comedian—his business is to tell jokes, to make people laugh about uncomfortable things. But that shouldn’t take away the impact of what he says.
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT
Everybody loves some JGL right? Well here is a reason to love him even more. In late 2013, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut hit theaters. The widely released Don Jon, was the topic of much discussion in the media because of the movie’s subject matter—porn.
The media described it as a movie simply about porn and a lot of people probably went and saw it because of that (FTND note: this movie does have many graphic, triggering images). However, after seeing the movie, many realized what it was actually about: love, relationships, and false depictions of both in pornography/media.
The movie, which was written, directed, and starred in by Gordon-Levitt, features Jon, a good looking, macho man who has no trouble with the ladies.
However, he finds that regardless of all the beautiful women that he meets, and then after getting into a relationship with his dream girl, played by Scarlett Johansson, he realizes he is severely addicted to internet porn and openly admits that real women/real sex can never compare to porn.
In an interview talking about his character in the movie and the message of the film, Gordon-Levitt said:
“Everything in Jon’s life is sort of a one-way street. He is not connecting or engaging with anyone. That goes for the women in his life… It’s an item on a checklist. He doesn’t listen; he just takes. At the beginning of the movie, he is finding that dissatisfying because there’s the sequence where he brings a young lady home from the bar and he is comparing her to this checklist that he has gotten off of what he likes to see in a pornography video. Obviously, a real human being is not going to map onto that because there is a fundamental difference between a human being and an image on a screen.”
Since the movie, Gordon-Levitt has been open about his feelings about how the media and pornography negatively depict people and relationships.
ANDRA DAY
Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter-turned-actress Andra Day has recently said she dealt with a sex and porn addiction before filming her breakout role in the film, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”
Day wanted the focus to be on Holiday’s music in the critically-acclaimed film and not the sexualization of her in part because of her own struggle with sexual compulsion.
“I didn’t want any element of sexualization,” Day told InStyle when asked about her role. “I had come out of something in my own life—dealing with porn addiction, sex addiction.” (FTND note: the content in the interview discusses political and religious issues on which FTND has no stance as a non-religious and non-legislative nonprofit).
This vulnerable conversation has put her on our list of celebs who recognize the harmful effects of porn because of how she describes coming out of that compulsion.
“I’m definitely in a healthier place to enjoy that because I’m outside of the [porn] addiction, if you will,” she said. “So, yeah, it’s been really fun, because it’s been very new for me.”
LAMAR ODOM
Two-time NBA champion Lamar Odom has said he’s given up porn as part of building a healthier lifestyle for himself and his future basketball ambitions.
Shortly after his viral interview with TMZ Sports where he made this announcement alongside his partner at the time, we were able to catch up with him near his hometown of Queens, New York.
In his own words, this exclusive video interview captures his thoughts on how porn twisted his perception of love, intimacy, and sex—and how he is embracing newfound honesty and transparency in his life since quitting his porn habit.
Lamar’s vulnerability is admirable in sharing his story with us. Listen to our exclusive Consider Before Consuming FTND podcast interview with him that you can find anywhere you listen to podcasts.
HUGH GRANT
When actor Hugh Grant appeared on U.S. chat show Watch What Happens Live, he spoke about having three children, his preconceptions about fatherhood, and how his new role as a parent has changed him for the better. At one point in the interview, Grant was asked when the last time he watched porn was.
Grant answered quickly, “Ah, I’m rather proud of this! About three years ago. Yes, I went cold turkey.”
The interviewer then asked if quitting porn had changed his life for the better.
Grant’s response? “I now have three children. I think there is a correlation.”
We think so too, Hugh.
JULIETTE BINOCHE
This acclaimed French actress won an Oscar for her role in The English Patient, and has starred in films such as Chocolat (in which she was nominated for another Academy Award) and Dan In Real Life.
She is also the first woman to have won best actress awards at the Berlin, Cannes, and Venice film festivals. We recently uncovered this quote from an interview she gave to UK site The Independent in 2012:
“A lot of men take porn as not that important, not that serious, whereas women tend to take it personally. It’s like, ‘How can he make love to me after watching something like this?’ I think the first time I was aware that [a partner was using porn], I was really shocked because I didn’t understand it. Lovemaking for me is related to feelings, and sensations with feelings, and so when you don’t have the feelings it becomes animal-like because you’re not in touch with your heart.”
JOSH RADNOR
In an exclusive interview with Fight the New Drug, Josh Radnor spoke out publicly for the first time against pornography and shared why is against it. As an actor he is most notably known for his role as Ted Mosby in the Emmy Award-winning TV show How I Met Your Mother, and for writing and directingLiberal Arts and Happythankyoumoreplease.
We caught up with Josh for an exclusive interview in Richmond, Virginia, where he was filming the second season of Mercy Street, his latest television series. We asked him a series of questions about his thoughts and feelings about the effects of pornography on individuals, relationships, and society as a whole. When asked about how he approaches this issue from a factual standpoint, he told us:
“People make the argument that pornography has always been around – like it’s some kind of sturdy, time-honored tradition – but it’s a baseless argument. It has never been around the way it is today, with the instant availability and variety and barbarity of it all. Internet pornography is this crazy experiment unleashed on the human psyche. Bodies and brains are being sent on a wildly untested chemical roller coaster. Like with any drug I think there are people whose circuitry is not vulnerable to the addiction, and many others who aren’t so fortunate. Because it’s all so new and has exploded so fast, research is only now beginning to come out. Reports of chronic porn watchers detoxing off porn mirrors classic drug withdrawal – shakes, sweating, insomnia, depression, inability to focus, suicidal ideation, etc. There are those who say there’s no such thing as pornography addiction and that watching porn is harmless. History will not be kind to those people. They’ll be the doctors from the fifties in the cigarette ads.”
Our interview with Josh was shared thousands of times on Facebook and generated a large discussion on the actor’s Twitter account. One of our favorite quotes from the interview:
This just goes to show that it doesn’t matter who you are, the facts remain the same: porn is harmful.
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