Dating can be tough. Thumb cramp from endless swiping, hours wasted at conversationally one-sided drinks, attempts to swerve duplicitous catfishing and trauma from sudden ghosting has led many singletons to wonder: maybe it’s actually way better to just be alone?
Celibacy is on the rise amongst younger generations. For the first time on record, the number of people who are married has dropped below 50 per cent in England and Wales.
Even celebrities are increasingly ditching dating. So, from movie star Jane Fonda, to fashion model Linda Evangelista, here are 10 huge stars who’ve turned their back on romance…
Moby
Moby, who was previously in a relationship with Lana del Rey, told The Independent he hasn’t been on a date for a decade and admitted meeting up with women would often give him panic attacks. The “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?” musician, 58, said it was like the universe had told him “the world of relationships, marriage, family, children” wasn’t for him.
“It just sort of makes sense,” he said. “As a result, in 10 years, I haven’t gone on a date or even pursued one”.
Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks has admitted she gave up on dating after narrowing her list of potential boyfriends “down to nobody”. The Fleetwood Mac singer, 76, who was previously involved with Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Don Henley and Joe Walsh, explained she doesn’t want to fall in love with somebody who could be about to die, adding men her age “want to go out with somebody that’s 25” anyway.
“That has been going on since the Bible, and I haven’t even read the Bible, but I know that,” she told Rolling Stone. “So what am I gonna do, compete with that? I’m not a competitor. So I don’t even wanna be in that situation.”
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton adopted two children on her own and became a mother for the first time at 50. The Annie Hall actor, 78 previously dated Al Pacino and Warren Beatty but said she hasn’t been romantically involved with anybody for around 40 years because she never gets asked out.
“I have a lot of male friends,” she told InStyle. “I have a lot of friends but no dates. No mwah-mwah."
Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone hasn’t been in a relationship since her divorce from journalist Phil Brostein in 2004. “I’m done dating, I’ve had it with dating,” the Basic Instinct actor, 66, said on The Drew Barrymore Show.
“I just find people to be insincere and not worth my time. I enjoy my alone time and time with my kids and my friends more. I just find people to be insincere and not worth my time. I enjoy my alone time and time with my kids and my friends more,” she added.
“I have really good men friends but I just feel when it comes to emotional maturity in relationships that men and women are seemingly in different spots.”
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda, who has been married three times to film director Roger Vadim, political activist Tom Hayden, TV producer Ted Turner, and was in a relationship with music producer Richard Perry for eight years, said she’s not interested in ever dating again.
“I don’t want to be in a relationship, a sexual relationship, again. I don’t have that desire,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “"I can get much more done when I’m on my own,” she added to Vanity Fair.
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg has no interest in being in a relationship for one very simple reason: “I don’t want somebody in my house,” she told the New York Times.
“I’m not looking to be with somebody forever or live with someone.” The 68 year old Sister Act actor’s third and final marriage was to actor Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, who she divorced the following year.
Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista, who had a tumultuous marriage to French former model Gérard Marie, an engagement with Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan and a relationship with billionaire businessman François-Henri Pinault has sworn off all romantic entanglements.
“I don’t want to sleep with anybody anymore,” the 59 year old Canadian model told The Sunday Times. “I don’t want to hear somebody breathing.”
Julie Bowen
Modern Family star Julie Bowen, who finalised her divorce from software developer Scott Phillips in 2018, has said dating is extremely low on her priorities list and revealed she will not be actively looking for love. “I like where I am. I’m single,” she admitted on The Drew Barrymore Show. “You know, like working ... who has the time?” she asked.
Julia Fox
Model Julia Fox, who previously dated Kanye West, revealed in May she has been celibate for over two years. “I just think nothing good comes from having sex,” she said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, joking this included “having children”.
“It was six months, and then it was a year, and then I’m like, ‘Oh my god, it’s almost two and a half years and it’s still going,’” she told Cohen, adding she didn’t miss sex whatsoever.
“I think it’s just like getting over anything, smoking, drugs, whatever it may be,” she said. “Eventually, you just forget, and all that energy you were putting toward sex, you can put toward other things.”
Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling told Flare in 2014 she wasn’t particularly interested in dating because she was really enjoying being totally selfish with her time.
“In my 20s, I was not only boy crazy, but marriage and relationship crazy,” the comedian, who is the sole parent to her two children, admitted. “Now it’s almost the opposite. My work is so rewarding and I’m so self-centred about it that I’m kind of excited about not having to go home and ask someone about their day.”
