Gary Owen Admits He Cheated on Ex-Wife Kenya Duke, Says His Current Marriage Is Different

Kenya Duke and Gary Owen at the BET Awards Afterparty in Los Angeles on July 1, 2012.

Comedian Gary Owen is speaking candidly about infidelity in his previous marriage to Kenya Duke, while explaining why he believes his relationship with his current wife, Brianna Johnson, is on a very different path.

The 52-year-old comedian addressed his past marriage, his sex life and his expectations for fidelity during an interview with Vlad TV, published on Saturday, Aug. 22. During the conversation, Owen acknowledged that he had cheated in his previous relationship and said he now expects himself to remain “100% faithful” to Johnson.

According to Owen, one of the biggest differences between his two marriages is the level of intimacy he shares with his current wife.

“The biggest difference between this marriage and my last marriage is that we weren’t intimate at all,” Owen said of his relationship with Duke. He claimed that during the final six years of their marriage, the former couple had sex only three times.

Owen added that their lack of compatibility had existed even before that period.

“Even before that, we weren’t in sync in the bedroom. I’ll put it like that,” he explained.

He contrasted that experience with his marriage to Johnson, saying he now enjoys returning home and spending intimate time with his wife.

“It’s not like that with my current wife. I enjoy being intimate with her. I look forward to coming home,” Owen said.

He then described a conversation he has had with Johnson about their relationship, telling her that when he comes home, he wants them to prioritize their connection.

Owen went on to make a broader statement about marriage, arguing that without physical intimacy, spouses can begin to feel more like roommates.

“You’re a roommate if you’re not sleeping with your spouse,” he said.

However, Owen stressed that he did not intend his remarks as an attack on Duke. According to him, the emotional and physical distance in their marriage was mutual rather than the responsibility of one person.

“The feeling was mutual. We just weren’t into each other,” Owen said. “If we were, we would have been sleeping together.”

Owen also offered insight into the way he and Johnson currently handle situations when one of them does not feel ready for intimacy.

According to the comedian, communication is particularly important. He said that rather than simply rejecting the other person, he believes a spouse can explain why they are tired or unavailable and reassure their partner that they can reconnect later.

“If she’s not in the mood, you can’t just go, ‘No, I’m not in the mood,’” Owen said, describing his perspective. He suggested saying something along the lines of being exhausted but promising to reconnect the following morning or the next day.

For Owen, knowing that intimacy has not been rejected indefinitely changes the way he responds.

“That’s different,” he said. “As a man, you’re like, ‘Cool, I can wait. I can wait till tomorrow.’”

Owen then added that, in his view, women should communicate when they might be ready rather than simply saying no, claiming that uncertainty can make men feel guilty. His comments represented his personal views on intimacy and relationships and quickly became one of the most notable parts of the interview.

PEOPLE reported that it reached out to representatives for both Owen and Duke on Sunday, Aug. 23, but had not received an immediate response.

Owen and Duke have a long and complicated history.

The former couple married in 2003 and remained together for nearly two decades before divorcing in 2021. They share two children, son Austin and daughter Kennedy. Duke is also the mother of a son, Emilio, from an earlier relationship.

Their divorce was highly publicized and was followed by years of tension involving both their breakup and Owen’s relationship with his older children.

Owen has since started a new chapter with Johnson.

The comedian and Johnson welcomed twin sons, Royal and Rome, in July 2023. They later married earlier this year, formalizing a relationship that Owen now describes as significantly different from his first marriage.

Despite the difficult history between Owen and Duke, there have recently been signs that some of the family divisions may be softening.

Last month, their son Austin shared a photograph showing himself with both of his parents during a family celebration.

“Got my parents back together for the first time in 6 years. God is good,” Austin wrote alongside the image.

The photograph appeared particularly significant given Owen’s previous public comments about being estranged from his older children.

In 2024, while appearing on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Owen revealed that he had not seen his older children in more than three years.

He described the situation as deeply painful and said his children represented both what he was most proud of and what he considered one of the biggest failures of his personal life.

“It’s a nightmare,” Owen said at the time. “It’s like, they’re my greatest accomplishments and my greatest failure at the same time.”

He said the deterioration of those relationships occurred after his divorce from Duke.

“But to see how it’s just crashed and burned since a divorce — and this is all since a divorce,” he said.

Duke later publicly responded to Owen’s remarks in an Instagram post.

She wrote that three years had passed and said she had consistently tried to remain respectful and cordial with him despite their difficult history.

“I am always kind and cool with you,” Duke wrote, tagging Owen’s Instagram account. “I purposely, never make it awkward. I never bother you.”

She also said that she had previously offered him advice about repairing his relationship with their children but believed he had failed to respect their personal boundaries.

“I have given you my suggestions on the situation but you don’t respect their boundaries,” Duke continued, adding that this was why she believed Owen had once again discussed the family dispute publicly.

“I don’t know what else to do to help you,” she concluded.

Owen’s latest interview now adds another layer to an already complicated public story surrounding his divorce.

Rather than focusing only on the breakdown of his relationship with his children, he has now spoken directly about the lack of intimacy he says existed during his marriage to Duke and how that influenced his behavior.

Kenya Duke and Gary Owen attend the 45th NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 22, 2014.

At the same time, Owen appears determined to distinguish his past from his current relationship.

He says his marriage to Johnson includes stronger communication, greater physical compatibility and a desire to spend time together — factors he believes will help him remain faithful.

For Owen, the contrast between the two relationships appears to be central to the way he now understands his own past mistakes.

His comments, however, also underscore how sensitive the subject remains. While Owen framed the lack of intimacy in his former marriage as mutual and insisted he was not criticizing Duke, his explanation inevitably brings renewed attention to a divorce that has already played out publicly for years.

Now married again, raising twin boys and apparently beginning to reconnect with at least some members of his older family, Owen seems focused on a different future.

Whether his increasingly candid comments will help bring closure to the disputes surrounding his first marriage — or reopen old tensions — remains to be seen.