Yvonne Orji's Dating History Is Short & Sweet

As Molly Carter on Insecure, Yvonne Orji consistently looks for love in the wrong places. IRL, the Nigerian-American actor's love life is far less complicated. Yvonne Orji's dating history is short but sweet, as she's only been in one public relationship since landing her breakout role in 2015. In May 2018, Orji took to Instagram to introduce the world to her new boo, former Cleveland Browns linebacker Emmanuel Acho, whom she went on to date for nearly a year. During the 2019 Valentine's Day episode of her Jesus & Jollof podcast with co-host Luvvie Ajayi, Orji announced she was newly single and living her best life. She also confirmed to fans she is still abstaining from sex.

Despite playing such an openly sexual character on TV, Orji has always been very candid about her religious upbringing and decision to abstain from sex until marriage. In 2017, the actor even headlined a TEDx talk, where she gave her take on why "the wait is sexy." She believes strongly that virginity shouldn't be stigmatized or kept secret. As she explained during a Nov. 2016 appearance on the Breakfast Club, "I don't hide it. The same way people know they've had a one-night stand, you can say that, so I can this."

While Orji's faith has been tested at times ("There are days that I would go home from [the Insecure] set and I'd just be like, 'I want somebody to come over,'" she confessed during a Nov. 2017 appearance on Sex.Right.Now. with Cleo Stiller), she's in no rush to find The One. "I'm not really looking for anything subpar or shallow," she told the Los Angeles Times in July 2017.

However, she realizes abstinence isn't for everyone. Of her 2017 TEDx Talk, Orji told the LA Times, "It was explaining to people why I waited and what worked for me, but then it's also saying, 'Hey, girl, I get it.' My 17-year-old self was not trying to be waiting, but I got bamboozled by Jesus." BTW, Bamboozled by Jesus also happens to be the title of the actor's forthcoming memoir.

Her year-long relationship with Acho didn't pan out, but Orji sees no reason to mourn that fact. During the Feb. 2019 Jesus & Jollof podcast where she announced the breakup, Orji said, "...the reason I am so good and so happy is because I know how God works. I have seen God's MO so many times, that like, in the way that you can be like, 'Aw man, I thought this was it! I thought this was the one!' God be like, 'Oh, that's what you thought? I got the goods for you.'" She compared the situation to a TV role she was offered before Insecure that failed to launch her career. "...I was like, 'This is it!' and then the show went to nowhere," she said. "I got borderline depressed. Cut to Insecure. Cut to my life has changed."

Since breaking up with Acho, Orji has seemingly remained single, and I imagine her single status will last until she finds a person worth her time. As Orji told HelloGiggles in March 2017, "I think whenever people give relationship advice, if it's to someone who is still single at a certain age, it's like, 'Maybe you should smile more?' ...Or, 'Maybe you shouldn't have such high standards.' No, no, no. I have two degrees, and I still owe student loans, so I am gonna have high standards because I paid for them." You're an absolute legend, Yvonne.