Comedian and actress Yvonne Orji opens up about her virginity and love
Watching Yvonne Orji in HBO’s Insecure, one couldn’t help but be addicted to her character, Molly, and her friendship with Issa.
In one of the episodes, Molly called out a miserable Issa for being reluctant to dump her boyfriend, Lawrence. Their raw honesty was refreshing to watch.
The show ended in 2021 with Season 5. Even when it ended, fans still speak of the duo.
When Issa Rae posted a picture with her cast members in September 2023, fans called for a reboot or even a movie.
We look back on this interview with Yvonne.
While her character Molly is very sexually liberated — Issa calls it “ho-ey” — Yvonne, on the other hand, is a strong Christian woman who is often vocal about being celibate until marriage.
On keeping her virginity and love While in South Africa in 2017, Yvonne told the TRUELOVE team why she chooses to wait before having sex.
“Whenever I meet the right man and we get married that’s when I’m going to let go of my virginity.”
She further explained to Vogue saying, “Before any of [the fame] happened, I sat down with myself and with God and thought, when I make it, how do you want me to represent You while I’m here?” Later in the interview, she answered her own question: “It was like, okay, I know why I’m here. It’s to make You proud.” So, you might be wondering how dating is for her.
She told the LA Times, “I’ll be very honest – I was so focused on advancing in my career that I didn’t have enough emotional capacity for dating. But now, I’m actually at a point were life’s good. I used to do ‘foodie calls’. I know it’s bad. A foodie call is when you’re not necessarily interested in the guy, but you’re very interested in eating that night and times are hard. It’s very different from a booty call because it really just ends after dinner.”
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Finding her space in the industry
Yvonne introduced Molly – the loud, successful lawyer with sass and style – to the world. But she herself, graduated from George Washington University with a master’s degree in public health but decided medicine wasn’t her calling. She told her parents becoming a doctor would take eight years so she needed the same time to make it in comedy.
“I was born in Nigeria and came [to the U.S.] in ’89 when I was six. From the time I was born, it was like, ‘you’re going to be a doctor.’ And I was like, ‘I think so. That’d be dope.’ And then college happens, and you take organic chemistry and you’re like, ‘Nah, blood and I don’t get along.’ I hate blood. So, I started doing comedy in 2006. I got my master’s in public health, worked in Nigeria then came back to the U.S. in 2009. It’s during the recession when I was really like, ‘I’m 25. If I’m going to be a doctor, it’s going to take me eight years of school and residency. So, let me give myself eight years to make this thing happen’. And I did it in seven! Haha! Thank you, Jesus,” Yvonne told Fast Company, an American business magazine.
Like for many, breaking into the industry was no joke for Yvonne. She had to work hard to get noticed and did stand-up before breaking into acting. She continues with Fast Company: “Comedy was my gateway to acting. But I didn’t have an agent and while I felt like I could do it – I took some acting classes – no one would give me an opportunity. They were like, ‘Well, we haven’t seen you in anything, so we’re not going to give you this role. I’m like, ‘Well, how am I ever going to get into anything?’”
On Insecure and Issa Rae Well, actress and producer Issa Rae gave her that chance and we’re very grateful. She told TRUELOVE: “Issa emailed me details to play her best friend in late 2015. It took the team a long time to get the ball rolling with the auditions, I had even forgotten about it. Seven months and five auditions later, I booked the show.”
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If you’re wondering if her on-screen sisterhood with Issa is real — it is indeed! “I don’t think people understand how much of a delight Issa is. I [loved] working with her on the show, her laughs and personality come from a really deep place. What we have is so genuine. She opened doors for me with the Insecure audition. Not a lot of people could do that, and I’ll forever be grateful. I’m friends with her friends and we have fun times together,” Yvonne said.
Insecure is a great representation of and getting Black voices heard in Hollywood. Yvonne believes the truer reflection of Black women and their relationship with those around them and each other is getting better.
“I think we’re at an interesting place. We’ve been here before in the ’90s and early 2000s with shows like Girlfriends and Living Single. These shows portrayed real friendships but got replaced with reality TV that shows women hating and throwing chairs at each other. I don’t understand those kinds of friendships. We’re now hungry for content that represents Black women’s reality, where women support one another, the good and the bad side of most black female friendships.”
Yvonne starred in Night School alongside comedy royalty Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart. The movie was released in September 2018. She’s also been pushing her own creation and passion project, FirstGen Show, bringing the first-generation Nigerian American story to a mainstream audience. She explains that the show’s a great way to use comedy to share her experiences. We can’t wait to see more of Yvonne’s work.
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