What Ne-Yo & More Stars Have Shared About Non-Monogamous Relationships

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For RuPaul and his husband Georges LeBar, having an open relationship works because "it's just realistic," the TV host explained to The New Yorker in 2024. "There’s no such thing as monogamy with men."

And ultimately, it just made sense for the couple.

"We didn't decide," the RuPaul's Drag Race star, who met his husband at New York nightclub Limelight in 1994 some two decades before they wed, told Vanity Fair in 2019. "The hoax is that monogamy is actually something that can actually happen. I wouldn't want to put restraints on the person I love the most on this planet. I wouldn't do that to someone I love, my very best friend."

And having an open marriage doesn't make them question their love for each other.

"Listen, if you get something happening that you cannot resist and that's going to make you happy, go for it," RuPaul continued. "Go fot it. Because the truth is, I know in my heart of hearts like I've never known anything before, that man loves me more than anything else in this world."

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Kody Brown once said, "Love should be multiplied, not divided."

And for decades, he was in a plural marriage with wives Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown and Robyn Brown—with their journey being documented on the series Sister Wives.

"I just fell in love," the father of 18 said on the first episode in 2010, "and then I fell in love again and I fell in love again."

However, he's since fallen out of love with polygamy. Christine and Kody announced their breakup in November 2021, with him and Janelle confirming their separation in December 2022. A month later, Meri revealed their decision to "permanently terminate" their marriage. As a result, Robyn is Kody's sole wife.

"I'm not an advocate of plural marriage, but I've had my own experience in it and I've had my own failures in it," he told People in December 2023. "Because of that, I'm like, you got to be really, really wise about who is doing it, how they're doing it."

And while Kody said it can work for some people, he noted "there's those marriages that have people who know each other very, very, very well, and they still don't work."

Some of Kody's exes have since embraced monogamy—like Christine, who wed David Woolley in 2023 and has said on the show she "wouldn't live polygamy again." Others, like Janelle, have said they "would consider a plural marriage again."

As for wife Robyn, she said on a 2024 episode she'd do plural marriage again if she could guarantee a "positive successful experience."

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Willow Smith brought a discussion on non-monogamy to the red table.

"With polyamory, I feel like the main foundation is the freedom to be able to create a relationship style that works for you," Will Smith and

href="https://www.eonline.com/news/jada_pinkett_smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jada Pinkett Smith's youngest said on a 2021 episode of Red Table Talk, "and not just stepping into monogamy because that's what everyone around you says is the right thing to do."

And Jada and fellow cohost "Gammy" Adrienne Banfield-Norris listened to what Willow had to say. 

"The main reasons why monogamists' relationships or why marriage, why divorces happen is infidelity," the "Whip My Hair" artist continued. "Let's say you haven't always been the kind of person that wanted to have sex all the time, but your partner is. Are you gonna be the person to say, 'Just because I don't have these needs, you can't have them either?'"

But that doesn't mean they always agreed. And when Gammy raised questions about sex, Willow replied, "In my friend group, I'm the only polyamorous person, and I have the least sex out of all my friends."

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Shailene Woodley believes the only opinions that matter in a relationship are the ones of the people in it.

"Listen, I’m someone who has experienced both an open relationship and a deeply monogamous relationship in my life, and I think we’re in a day and age where there should be no rules except for the ones designed by two people in a partnership — or three people, whatever floats your boat!" the Big Little Lies star told The New York Times in 2020. "But there has to be a level of responsibility in any relationship dynamic, and that responsibility is simply honesty and communication and trust. Apart from that, it’s really none of our business what people choose to do with their lives."

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When you’re mad at Ne-Yo about his polyamorous relationships, he doesn’t give it another thought.

"Them: 'NEYO WE DON'T APPROVE OF YOUR POLY RELATIONSHIP,'" the singer wrote on his Instagram Stories in February, later adding, “Fun fact: I don't care."

And Ne-Yo—who was married to Crystal Renay for almost seven years before they finalized their divorce in 2023—introduced the internet to his four girlfriends in March.

"It works," the Grammy winner said on a February episode of the Rickey Smiley Morning Show. "Everybody’s honest. Everybody’s telling the truth. Everybody is consenting. I feel like I wasted a lot of time just being dishonest about things to the point where had I taken this approach initially I probably could have saved myself a lot of headache and heartache."

However, that doesn't mean polyamory works for everybody.

"Please understand that I'm not in here saying that everybody should try what I'm trying and do what I'm doing," Ne-Yo clarified. "I'm telling y'all what works for me. I'm showing y'all what works for me. And if you agree, cool. If you don't, cool. Either way you slice it, I'm happier than I've ever been, I'm more zen than I've ever been and that's what it is—that's the important part. I don't need everybody to agree. I'm not doing it for y'all."

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There’s been a lot of talk about Nick Cannon raising kids with multiple women. However, The Masked Singer host has shared his thoughts on monogamy before.

“That’s a Eurocentric concept when you think about the ideas of you're supposed to have this one person for the rest of your life, and really that's just a classified property when you think about it," he said on a 2021 episode of The Breakfast Club, later adding. "Just the idea that a man should have one woman, we shouldn't have anything. I have no ownership over this person. Like, if we really talking about how we coexist and how we populate, it's about what exchange can we create together. So, I've never really subscribed to that mentality."

Nick shares twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-wife Mariah Carey, kids Golden Sagon, Powerful Queen and Rise Messiah with Brittany Bell, son Legendary Love with Bre Tiesi and daughter Onyx Ice with LaNisha Cole. In addition, the Wild 'n Out star welcomed three kids with Abby De La Rosa—twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir as well as daughter Beautiful Zeppelin—and two with Alyssa Scott: daughter Halo Marie and late son Zen.
 
“Those women and all women are the ones that open themselves up to say, 'I would like to allow this man in my world, and I will birth this child,’” Nick continued. "So, it ain't my decision. I'm following suit."

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From Omarion’s perspective, monogamy just doesn’t hit the right note.

And as the singer explained on a February episode of Sherri, "being open is important" to him.

"The women just truly outnumber the men," he told host Sherri Shepherd, later adding, "It’s only a few good men. Whether or not it’s a physical thing, we end up fostering the next generation as well….Why not have our queens align with that? It takes a village. It’s not gonna just be one man. You can get married—that man still aint going to be just your man. He’s gonna be there for his daughter, he’s going to be there for his mom, his grandmother.”

So as Omarion sees it, “This concept isn’t really foreign, it’s just a little old and it’s meant to be upgraded.” And he’d like there to be more discussions on the topic.

"I love this conversation because I think when men are open and honest that they don’t wanna have just this one thing for the rest of their life, it gives a woman the opportunity to choose and further understand a man," the musician added. "Because I think that women don’t really understand a man. Certain women do, but there’s a larger conversation that has to be had about understanding men and how we’re meant to spread our seed."