S Club 7’s Jon Lee didn’t hold back in Celebs Go Dating launch episode on Monday night as he revealed he hasn’t had sex in six years.
The singer, 43, recently opened up on his ‘traumatic’ dating past that made him swear off looking for love.
And as he dipped his toes back into the dating game, Jon confessed to the shocking revelation.
In his opening VT, he said: ‘I’ve been single for six years and in that times I’ve been celibate as well.’
Speaking about his ‘ideal man’, he said: ‘Someone who is a bit rough around the edges but seems like a quite, nice and fun guy.’
Jon disclosed to the Daily Mail that his participation in Celebs Go Dating was prompted by a series of ‘traumatic’ dating experiences that almost made him completely give up on love.
S Club 7’s Jon Lee, 43, didn’t hold back in Celebs Go Dating launch episode on Monday night as he revealed he hasn’t had sex in six years
The singer recently opened up on his ‘traumatic’ dating past that made him swear off looking for love
He said: ‘I thought [after] my last relationship, I was just like, “I’m done”, I just really did not want to date at all.
‘I thought I was very happy being single, I was single for six years, very, very happily single for six years.
‘When it’s just traumatic, you end up thinking, “I don’t want to go through that again,” so it was a significant move for me to be a part of this show.’
‘My mate said, “If you don’t do this, you’re going to end up single forever”.’
His friend’s advice gave him the courage he needed to make his last do or die attempt at romance on Celebs Go Dating.
‘It was sort of like… what can really go wrong? So, I thought I might as well give it one last hurrah’, Jon explained.
Getting to the point where he feels ready to look for love again has taken a lot of work.
Recently, Jon candidly discussed, for the first time with the Daily Mail, his lifelong struggles with addiction, a battle that nearly claimed his life and took away much of his adult years.
As Jon began venturing back into the world of dating, he revealed a startling fact: ‘I’ve been single for six years, and during that time, I’ve also been celibate.’
Jon shared with the Daily Mail that his stint on Celebs Go Dating came after a series of distressing dating encounters that almost led him to give up on love.
The singer pictured with his S Club 7 band mates
Jon’s career began as a child performer on the West End at age 12, before being selected from a large pool of hopefuls to join the hugely popular S Club 7 at just 16.
He had dabbled in softer drugs during his pop star years and readily admitted he used alcohol to ‘help me be the person I thought I had to be’.
But it was only in his thirties – when his pop career seemed like a distant dream, and he was pursuing a career in musical theatre – that he was introduced to crystal meth.
He found himself sectioned, having the neighbours call the police on him and intentionally overdosing on GHB in hopes of taking his own life.
The musician explained how bad it got at one point: ‘I didn’t even recognise myself at that time.
‘Sometimes, in the midst of one of the psychotic episodes where I’d be smashing my flat up with a hammer, I’d catch sight of myself in the mirror and say: “What the f***?”.
‘I’d have a moment of lucidity, thinking: “I was a successful young man, I had a brilliant career, incredible life. What am I doing?”‘
Jon has since recovered, with the help of his three rescue dogs, moving to Cornwall to live next door to his mother, sister and nieces and returning to perform S Club gigs with his former bandmate Jo O’Meara.
The musician recently opened up publicly, for the first time, to MailOnline, about his lifelong battle with addiction, which nearly killed him and erased a good chunk of his adult life
Jon pictured with his former bandmates Bradley McIntosh, Rachel Stevens, Jo O’Meara and Tina Barrett
He also took a near three-and-a-half-year break ‘just walking’ across various European cities, completely cut off from his family and friends, funded by income from rental properties he bought in his S Club years.
Dating could only come after this kind of complete stabilisation, he has since confessed to Daily Mail, ahead of his appearance on Celebs Go Dating.
‘When you go into a relationship or you start a relationship, you need to be 100 per cent comfortable and happy with who you are’, he said.
‘If you’re going into it and you’re kind of all over the place and you’re looking for someone to fix you in some way, you’re doomed, you have to be solid when you go into it.
‘And someone needs to add your life not support it, because then if they’re gone, then you’re f***ed. And that was another reason I’ve been single for so long.’
Jon has long been out to his nearest and dearest but he only came out publicly after S Club split in 2010.
Does it feel intimidating to date so publicly, on a reality show, after feeling like had had to hide his true self for so many years?
‘For me, it’s a testament to how far I’ve come. So, I don’t feel the need to be hidden or I don’t feel the need to step back and hide myself’, he said.
He had previously been relying heavily on alcohol and recreational drugs – but it was his father’s diagnosis in 2014 that had sent Jon over the edge into harder usage
‘And for me, that feels good, it’s taken me years to get there but it feels good to be able to stand on TV as a very proud gay man and I’m happy with who I am.’
The singer was also very close with his father, who sadly passed away from motor neurone disease in 2019.
He had previously been relying heavily on alcohol and recreational drugs – but it was his father’s diagnosis in 2014 that had sent Jon over the edge into harder usage.
Jon explained: ‘My dad was always my champion, my dad was always my number one fan and my hero.
‘So, he was always proud of me no matter what I did. But yeah, he would be very proud to see me, to see what I went through.’
He alluded to some even more breakthroughs in the course of the show’s therapy sessions.
‘I think everybody was able to really open up and be honest and maybe say things they hadn’t ever said out loud before’, he confessed.
‘I think once you start, the floodgates open. And it just all kind of comes out.’
Jon seemed to hint at it helping him being able to start a new kind of romance.
‘I’m in no rush to do anything, I’m happy to just take each day as it comes and see what happens and make sure whoever I’m with or not with or whatever, that we’re sort of looking after each other’, he said.
Celebs Go Dating is available to watch on E4 and to stream on Channel 4.
