The Jonas Brothers “felt the pressure” to live up to their Christian values after talking publicly about their “purity rings”.
After shooting to fame in the 2000s, the pop stars famously wore bands symbolising their desire to abstain from sex before marriage and Joe Jonas, 35, has admitted being open about their beliefs forced them to maintain the very high standards they set for themselves.
During an appearance on Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed podcast, Joe explained: “Famously we were known for like purity rings, which were something in the community of a church where that was like what everybody else in our age were doing around 10, 11 years old, like, we’re going to wait for the right person …
“One person on an interview when you’re 15, 16 [years old] would ask you about it, 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’.”
Joe went on to say: “Whether it was sex, or it was even religion or Christianity, [they’d be] questioning things like questioning if I believe in God, what is God? Is there even a God? And it’s on the record.
“And you’re like, uh … and so you felt the pressure,. I can definitely speak for all three of us here. [We] felt the pressure of being like: ‘Well, we have to live these lives because we kind of said it in a paper once. And it’s in print, so you [have] got to do it forever’.”
Joe was joined in the interview by his brother Nick, 32, who admitted he did not feel comfortable being asked about his views on sex when he was just a teenager.
Nick said: “I think it’s really a good thing [that it would no longer be acceptable to ask a teen about sex]. 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.”
Nick previously admitted wearing the rings “was challenging” in many ways.
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything forum in March 2016, he explained: “I’ve got a lot of perspective and real care about sex from those days, and specifically because people were watching us, because it was such a strange thing to a lot of people to wear these purity rings, especially as young men in a pop boy band.
“But I think when I’m looking back on it, although it was challenging to live with that, to be seen and have that attached to our name was very tough.
““I think it was a good thing. It gave me a really good perspective, to whereas now my main thing is about being OK with who I am as a man and the choices I’ve made, and I think everyone should have a good and solid conversation with either their parents or loved ones about sex and about what they want to do with their life, because it shouldn’t be taboo.
“It’s a big part of who we are and what makes us human, and if we can’t address these things head on, then I think that it can really be challenging.”
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