Kesha's Unconventional Path to Healing: Celibacy, Gratitude, and Reclaiming Pleasure

After nine years locked in a legal nightmare, Kesha is doing something most people wouldn’t dare talk about publicly: she’s reprogramming her ability to feel pleasure, one gratitude meditation at a time.

During her appearance on the“Call Her Daddy”podcast released on Wednesday, May 6, the 39-year-old singer opened up about her journey to reclaim her sexuality following her settlement with music producer Dr. Luke (real name Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald) in June 2023. The legal battle that consumed nearly a decade of her life began in 2014 when Kesha alleged that Dr. Luke assaulted her in 2005, claiming she woke up in his bed with no memory of how she got there and that he threatened her career if she spoke out. Dr. Luke denied the accusations and countersued for defamation. After Kesha dropped her initial lawsuit in August 2016, they eventually reached a settlement in the defamation case in 2023.

But here’s what makes her story remarkable: instead of jumping back into dating or hiding away, Kesha’s chosen a path that’s equal parts spiritual and brutally honest. She’s mostly celibate these days—with a very specific exception for Italy, which she jokes has“some fucking kings.”More importantly, she’s actively rewiring her brain to experience pleasure again. Years of stress from the legal fight completely blocked her ability to orgasm, so now she’s using a daily gratitude meditation practice as her tool for healing. And yes, she’s combining them in a way that might sound unconventional until you realize it’s actually genius: she masturbates to gratitude meditations.“Don’t knock it’til you try it,”she said with characteristic boldness.

This isn’t about shock value for her—it’s about agency. Kesha explained that reclaiming pleasure as a woman who’s survived trauma requires active, intentional work.“When you go through things, pleasure is not the number one neural pathway that your brain always goes to,”she noted.“I had to reprogram that and I do it every fucking day, and I’m not even embarrassed about it.”That unapologetic stance is the real story here. She’s not hiding, not ashamed, and not pretending her healing journey looks like anyone else’s.

She’s also staying single on purpose—a choice rooted in self-awareness rather than punishment. Kesha acknowledged that she has a pattern of falling for red flags in romantic partners, and she’s committed to breaking that cycle before she opens herself up to a serious relationship. She’s“calling in a fucking king,”as she put it, and she believes her body needs to align with that intention before the right person shows up. It’s manifesting with a dose of therapy work, and honestly, it’s a more thoughtful approach to dating than most people take.

The real takeaway? Kesha’s showing us what genuine healing looks like when you stop performing for anyone else and start doing the work that actually matters. Nine years of legal battles couldn’t break her—but reclaiming her own pleasure? That’s her victory.