Sex addiction is a term that’s tossed around lightly, but for some celebrities, it’s a dark reality. Stars like Tiger Woods, and more recently, Mike Caussin, have confessed to suffering from the affliction that has greatly affected their lives. Sexual addiction, according to Psych Central, is clinically defined as a “progressive intimacy disorder characterized by compulsive sexual thoughts and acts.” For sex addicts, the disorder manifests as “engaging in persistent and escalating patterns of sexual behavior acted out despite increasing negative consequences to self and others,” according to the Society for Advancement of Sexual Health.
Tiger, 44, famously confessed to sex addiction in 2010 after engaging in multiple affairs while married to Elin Nordegren. The golf pro checked himself into rehab the same year to receive therapy for his addiction. Later, after a mysterious car crash and fight with Elin, which exposed many of his affairs, Tiger publicly apologized and vowed to return to rehab.
“I want to say to each of you simply and directly I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in,” Tiger said at a press conference. “The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior. I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame.” He apologized to Elin and his kids, as well.
Mike, 33, detailed his sex addiction and the affect it had on his marriage to wife Jana Kramer in their 2020 joint memoir, The Good Fight: Wanting to Leave, Choosing to Stay, and the Powerful Practice for Loving Faithfully. The Washington Football Team linebacker and the “Whiskey” singer separated in 2016 because of his addiction and infidelity, and he went to rehab to tackle it. They reunited in 2017.
“I want to be very clear about something: society has had the nerve to call sex addiction a ‘married man’s excuse’ to which I say bull…(wait for it)…s**t,” Mike writes in The Good Fight. “Addiction is not an excuse at all, and I make sure to never use it as such. However it is an explanation.”
Jada Pinkett Smith, 49, discussed her past sex addiction on a 2019 episode of Red Table Talk. “When I was younger, I definitely think I had a sex addiction of some kind, yes, that everything could be fixed by sex,” she explained. “So I went cold turkey. That’s the thing about me, I can go cold turkey. I am a binger, and I always have to watch myself and I can just get obsessed with things. It’s not what you’re doing but how you’re with it. Why you’re doing it. It’s the behavior that’s attached to it because if you want to have a lot of sex, that’s great, but why are you having all that sex? That’s what you’ve got to look at.”
Learn about more celebrities who have confessed to sexual addictions, like Russell Brand and Lamar Odom, by scrolling through the gallery above.