Jimmy Carr has opened up about why he waited until he was 26 years old to have sex.
The comic, 53, has been open in the past about the fact that he waited until his mid-20s to lose his virginity, but has now revealed the reason he was a little bit older than most.
Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, the Fackham Hall actor explained that he had struggles with his Christianity and perhaps an ‘overly’ close relationship with his depressed mother.
He explained: ‘I think it’s very good to talk about this because there is a lot of pressure on young men to lose their virginity. It’s that weird thing at the moment where the world is harems and peepholes.’
‘It’s a small percentage of men getting all the girls, and everyone else is hopelessly addicted to porn.
‘I think it’s very good to be open about it and say not everyone develops at the same time.’
Jimmy explained to Louis that he was ’emotionally unavailable’ and enmeshed with his mother.
‘I was enmeshed with my mother, and maybe that was, you know, a part of it. I’m sure that’s what a psychotherapist would say. And you don’t find the person until you find the person, and you don’t love yourself. You don’t like who you are, particularly.
‘I don’t think you’re very attractive when you are in your early twenties to women. Because really, if you had to sort of summarise what women find attractive, it’s competence. Being good at something, guys get attractive around 30. They start to get good at something. It seems like it’s shallow, but I don’t think it is.’
Louis shared that he was 17 when he had sex for the first time, adding that it felt quite late in his group of peers.
Jimmy also added that another reason he stayed a virgin for a longer time than most was because of his Christian faith.
‘I was a religious guy growing up, a Christian, and then I had a close relationship with my mother. But that thing of just going “It’s Ok, it happens at different times.”
‘I think now more than ever with social media, the comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone is having a f*****g amazing time online.’
The comic added that his advice to his younger self wouldn’t be to change anything and tell himself off for being an ‘OG incel’.
He added that he didn’t know what made him want to be a comic, but said perhaps if he was able to change things in his past, he wouldn’t be where he is now – which is happy and successful.
He added that he thinks humour is a key thing for relationships, and wished he could try and set up dates with the people who attend his show together.
Jimmy has been in a relationship with his Canadian partner, Karoline Copping, since 2001.
Karoline is a former commissioning editor for Channel 5. The pair met during one of Carr’s auditions, but reportedly didn’t hit it off at first and started a relationship years later.
The couple lives in North London and had their first child, a son named Rockefeller, in 2019.
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