The Jonas Brothers share their experiences of being asked about personal lives and religion
The Jonas Brothers have shared their experiences of being asked uncomfortable questions about their sex lives and religion during their teenage years, due to their decision to wear purity rings.
In a recent episode of Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed podcast, Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas revealed that they were frequently asked about their plans to wait for marriage to get physically intimate with a partner.
Joe Jonas claimed that some journalists would threaten to write that they were in a “cult” if they didn’t discuss their stance on the topics.
Badgley noted that some reporters were essentially “asking a 10-year-old about their sex life.” Although Nick pointed out that he was older than 10 when he was first asked about his sex life, he acknowledged that the industry has come “far” in the way people have conversations about the topic.
“I think it’s really a good thing,” he said.
Joe revealed that the questions about purity rings and religion came up in “every interview,” which prompted Nick to point out that there was a larger problem at hand.
“It wasn’t just us. It was a whole class of young people coming up,” he said. Joe felt pressured to answer questions about the purity rings during interviews, and other questions they found inappropriate were about religion. He claimed he was asked if he believed in God.
Joe said that the uncomfortable questions were always asked on the record, which made them feel pressured to answer them.
“I can definitely speak for all three of us here. I felt the pressure of being like, ‘Well, we have to live these lives because we kind of said it in the paper once.’ It’s in print, so you gotta do it. It’s forever,” he said.
The brothers eventually felt that they could make their own decisions as individuals when the band temporarily broke up in 2013.
Joe added that the break-up pushed them to experience life on their own, saying, “Obviously, it’d be scary and freak us out until we got to a point where it’s like, ‘Fuck this.'”
“Because we were like, ‘We can figure out who we are on our own terms,'” he continued. The Jonas Brothers have spoken openly about their experiences and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
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