Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas have reflected on the pressures of growing up in the spotlight, revealing how uncomfortable they felt being asked about their sex lives as teenagers.
Appearing on Podcrushed, the podcast hosted by actor Penn Badgley, the Jonas Brothers spoke candidly about the long-standing public obsession with their purity rings, which they wore during their early fame as part of a personal and religious commitment to celibacy before marriage.
“Famously we were known for like purity rings,” said Joe Jonas, now 35. “Which were something in the community of a church where that was like what everybody else our age were doing around 10, 11 years old, like, we’re going to wait for the right person.”
But what started as a private spiritual choice quickly became tabloid fodder. Joe recalled the awkwardness of facing personal questions from interviewers while still in their mid-teens.
“One person on an interview when you’re 15, 16 would ask you about it,” he said. “And you’re like, ‘I don’t want to talk about this,’ and then they’re like, ‘Well, I’m going to write that you guys are in a cult.’”
The brothers signed their first record deal when Kevin was 17, Joe was 15, and Nick was just 12, at which point they were catapulted into the Disney pop machine. At the time, media scrutiny of young stars was intense, and interview boundaries were often ignored.
Nick Jonas, now 32, pointed out how much the industry has changed, particularly in how young artists are treated.
“I think it’s really a good thing,” Nick said. “Where it would be like so outside of the realm of possibilities or something someone would do to ask at that time a 14-year-old about their sex life.”
The Jonas Brothers, who reunited in 2019 after a six-year hiatus, have long been vocal about the highs and lows of fame. This latest interview offers rare insight into the toll it took during their formative years, and how attitudes in pop culture have slowly moved forward.
