20 Celebrity Women Who've Talked About Masturbation ·

05 Aug 2024, 00:00

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It’s now 2024, people — why is masturbation still a taboo topic? We’re all for self-love — whether it’s during May (Happy Masturbation Month!) or every other month of the year. There’s nothing wrong with being your own best lover, and no one knows it better than these celebrity women who’ve spoken up about masturbation.

Honestly, masturbating every day is healthy. It’s good for married people. It’s good for single people. It’s good for all people. And that’s why we love it when people, especially famous people, aren’t afraid to talk about it. We don’t need celebrities to tell us masturbation is great, but we love it when they’re not afraid to spread the word about it. After all, the more we all normalize and de-stigmatize masturbation, the more we’ll have a culturally positive and informed approach to pleasure (which makes all sex better too!)

From Chelsea Handler (who’d rather masturbate than meditate) to Jada Pinkett Smith (who talked about the topic with her mom and daughter) to Billie Eilish and more, these celebrities have all gotten real about the importance of self-pleasure.

Read on, and then see if you don’t get inspired by these six masturbation positions that prove you don’t need a partner to have a good time.

A version of this story originally appeared in 2016.

Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish got candid about masturbation in a 2024 Rolling Stone cover story, describing self-pleasure as “an enormous, enormous part of my life” and a “huge, huge help” for her body dysmorphia struggles.
Eilish even revealed her preferred way to masturbate: in front of a mirror. “Partly because it’s hot, but it also makes me have such a raw, deep connection to myself and my body, and have a love for my body that I have not really ever had,” the singer explained. “I have learned that looking at myself and watching myself feel pleasure has been an extreme help in loving myself and accepting myself, and feeling empowered and comfortable.”
Gina Rodriguez
A lot of us don’t come into the world realizing that masturbation is fun, healthy and normal, but that journey to acceptance and celebration is something many of us go through. Gina Rodriguez shares that she used to feel guilt and anxiety over her masturbation habits.
“In all honesty, I used to feel guilty for masturbating,” she told Bust in 2017. “Oh my god, this extreme guilt And that lasted way too long. Or maybe I masturbated too much. It’s OK to look back in retrospect and be like, it wasn’t good that I felt bad about touching myself.”
Khloe Kardashian
Khloe supports self-love so hard she even penned a blog post sharing her best masturbation pro-tips. We respect a woman who refuses to gate-keep pleasure!
From using porn, taking your sweet time and stocking up on lube, Kardashian gave some SK Health & Sex approved advice while also using her platform to destigmatize masturbation.
Aubrey O’Day
Not only does Aubrey O’Day talk openly about masturbating, she also mentions that she used to masturbate to BFF Jenna Jameson’s work!
“I watched [Jameson] before she was my BFF. I don’t watch her anymore,” she said in a 2008 interview with Complex. “I was masturbating one night to, like, Anal Sex Compilation #3 or whatever and she was in it and I was like, ‘Oh no!’ I had to turn it off. It was horrible.”
There’s plenty of other porn in the sea, though!
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union opened up about discovering her clitoris and sexuality young (as many children do!) in her essay collection from 2017, sharing a bit of her story on Sirius XM’s Sway in the Morning:
“[When I was five] I used to have an oversized stuffed animal that had like a potbelly, and I’d laid on it. And I was like, ‘whoa, oh, oh, ignition, hello!’ Yeah, I was like, ‘This is awesome if I kinda hump this stuffed animal.’ I just knew that it was amazing. What I was feeling was awesome and I just rolled with it — to this day… Self-love is the best love. [In my book, We’re Going to Need More Wine] I also talk about thinking that because that’s where I thought the fun was, I thought that my clitoris was my vagina. It just never occurred to me to do a deeper dive, because that was amazing. What else could there be?”
Rihanna
Rihanna has long had a reputation for giving no f***s when it comes to talking about sexuality and self-love. Whether it’s wearing this amazing “DIY” shirt that celebrates masturbation or supporting Masturbation Month as an all-year affair in 2012 on Twitter.
Lily Allen
Masturbation wasn’t a topic that was discussed as a part of Lily Allen’s childhood or adolescence, but the ‘Smile’ singer is happy to talk about it now — and hopes to break the taboo so many people (herself included, earlier in her life) feel around the topic.
In fact, Allen has even partnered with adult toy company Womanizer and is helping promote their #IMasturbate campaign and to release a special edition toy to celebrate self-love.
“Hi, Lily here,” she says in a video for the campaign. “So, I’ve got a little secret: I masturbate. But why is saying it out loud so weird? Loving yourself should be the most normal thing in the world. We all deserve amazing orgasams, right? So let’s be open about it.”
Halle Berry
Ask her anything — really! Halle Berry is up for talking about sex, and if you need proof, just check out her recently relaunched Bash and Booty video series. She detailed her first orgasm, at age 11: “I remember my first orgasm,” she said in the video, “and I did it to myself.” She continued, “I was diddling, and I was figuring out my sexuality, like most girls.”
Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Handler speaks her mind — in the most honest and hilarious way — about pretty much everything, and she opened up about self-pleasure to Health in 2020: “Therapy, meditation, and weed — those are the three things that really changed me,” she said. “Meditation always annoyed me, and people talking about meditating annoyed me. I tried with my psychiatrist several times. He made me short recordings and long recordings, and then I’d meditate. Sometimes I’d just masturbate. They both start with m, and your brain lets you relax after each one, so who cares?”
Jada Pinkett Smith
If you’re familiar with Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook show Red Table Talk, you know she has a no-holds-barred approach to, well, everything. In 2018, she talked about masturbation with her regular show co-stars, mother Adrienne Banfield Norris and daughter Willow Smith — and Pinkett Smith wasn’t afraid to get candid. “I came into [knowledge about sex] differently. My grandmother taught me about self-pleasuring because she wanted me to know that that pleasure was from me,” she said. “She didn’t want me to fall into the hands of a man and if he gave me pleasure to think that that was him. And she taught me at 9 [years old].”
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria is so keen to encourage other women to masturbate that she gives sex toys to all her friends. “I didn’t begin enjoying sex until I started masturbating,” she told Self in 2015, per Marca. “Before that, I really wasn’t sexual. I bought my first vibrator three years ago. It’s a shame I didn’t discover it sooner. Now I give Rabbit vibrators to all my girlfriends. They scream when they unwrap it. The best gift I can give them is an orgasm.”
Anna Kendrick
Anna Kendrick voiced her approval of masturbation on Twitter in 2013, in her usual hilarious way. “Ugh — NEVER going to a Ryan Gosling movie in a theatre again,” she tweeted. “Apparently masturbating in the back row is still considered ‘inappropriate.’”
Amy Schumer
At the 2015 MTV Movie Awards, Amy Schumer told viewers she masturbates and gave a little intel on what — or who — helps her get off. “Magic Mike XXL. It, like, really is magic,” she said, per Mic. “Anytime I watch those guys, at least two of my fingers disappear.”
Taylor Momsen
Taylor Momsen doesn’t mince her words when it comes to talking about masturbation. “I’m not a whore for masturbating, so fuck you if you want to call me one,” she said back in 2010, per Us. “I think women should equally be allowed to pleasure themselves as much as men.” Amen.
Amber Rose
Amber Rose isn’t just open about masturbation; she’s giving out tips! The How to Be a Bad Bitch author once revealed that she loves to masturbate while watching herself in the mirror, per Page Six. “I’m the queen of that,” she told Blac Chyna and sex therapist Dr. Chris Donaghue on Loveline with Amber Rose. And on The Amber Rose Show in 2016, the model also revealed a surprising benefit of regular masturbation, per The Daily Mail: “I masturbate all the time. I masturbate at least once a day. That’s why my skin looks so flawless.”
Farrah Abraham
Farrah Abraham doesn’t need anyone but herself to get off, apparently. “I masturbate to… I like to watch my own [sex tape],” she told Howard Stern, per Us. “I mean, I’ve had my video for a while, so I’ve seen it a lot.”
Shailene Woodley
Shailene Woodley called for better education on female masturbation in a 2016 interview with Net-a-Porter. “As a young woman, you don’t learn how to pleasure yourself, you don’t learn what an orgasm should be, you don’t learn that you should have feelings of satisfaction,” she said. “I’ve always had a dream of making a book called There’s No Right Way to Masturbate.”
Emma Watson
During a talk with Gloria Steinem, Emma Watson revealed that she’d signed up to a site that sells videos based on research on female pleasure. “A friend told me about this website called OMGYes, which is dedicated to female pleasure,” she said, per The Guardian. “I wish it had been around longer. Definitely check it out.” Emma, we’re on it.
Miley Cyrus
It’s no surprise that Miley Cyrus is willing to share her views on masturbation. She got the message out there loud and clear when she posted a photo of herself with her hand down her shorts on Instagram in 2015, along with the caption: “A masturbate a day keeps the haters away.”
Lena Dunham
.With her signature frankness, Lena Dunham revealed in her book Not That Kind of Girl that she “learned to masturbate the summer after third grade.”