Mercedes Blanche posts lingerie shoots for 2.1 million Instagram followers.
She hasn’t had sex in seven years.
The Los Angeles-based actress, who appeared in Amazon Prime’s dark superhero comedy The Boys, says her feed tells you very little about her private life.
Plenty of men, apparently, still need convincing.
“I’ve been celibate for seven years now, and it’s been life changing for me,” Mercedes said, as reported by Creatorzine.
“I’ve been able to focus on my career, without any distractions.”
Why lingerie shoots don’t mean she’s available
Originally from Hungary, Mercedes built her audience on comedy sketches and dad jokes, with a steady supply of glamour shoots in between.
The glamour is what people fixate on.
“People think of me as a highly sexual person because I like to wear revealing clothes and look pretty,” she said.
“They confuse that with my sexual desires, which are the opposite.
“I think the biggest misconception is that because I’m comfortable wearing lingerie and showing my body, I must be sexually available.
“I can post a sexy picture and still have absolutely no interest in sleeping with anyone. The two things aren’t connected for me.”
What pushed The Boys actress into celibacy
The decision didn’t arrive out of nowhere. Mercedes says it followed years of men in the entertainment industry treating her as an object.
“After so many years of seeing the worst of men, I felt pushed to my edge, so I did a 180 and became celibate.”
She now feels “more in control, more empowered”, and spends far less energy on what other people expect of her.
“I can rely on myself 100%.”
When Mercedes Blanche might date again
Anyone hoping to change her mind can stand down. For now.
“I will have sex again, just not anytime soon. I don’t have any plans to,” she said.
“If I meet somebody and it feels right, I’m not against it. I was just sick of the attitudes I was experiencing from men and I got to a point where I didn’t want that in my life anymore.
“It would have to be somebody who respects me and doesn’t make assumptions about me because of how I look or what I post online.”
The lingerie isn’t going anywhere.
“I know I’m hot, I love looking sexy and I’m never going to apologise for that,” she said.
“But what you see on Instagram isn’t an invitation into my bedroom.”
Why It Matters
Creators who trade on glamour run into Mercedes’s problem constantly, with audiences treating the content as a personal promise.
Plenty of them draw the same line she does in private.
Very few say it out loud to 2.1 million people.
Voluntary celibacy has become a recurring talking point online, with women in particular posting about stepping back from dating to put careers and their own wellbeing first.
Mercedes wants the acting to do the talking next. In an earlier interview she said:
“I want to show more of myself than just the looks and would love to do stunts.
I would love to shave my hair. I would love to showcase everything I can do as an actor.”
A shaved head would at least give the comments section something new to misread.
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