Is it THAT bad?

I was wondering if I could get some honest opinions.

Question: Is it THAT bad to lie about the amount of people you’ve slept with in your life, as long as you KNOW you’re 100% free of any STD’s or otherwise?

So some background, I’m 21 turning 22 this year. About 5-6 months ago I got out of a 2 year relationship. We had slept together fairly early on in the relationship, and as soon as we did I was completely open and honest about how many people I had previously slept with before him— but ONLY because he asked me directly and I didn’t see an issue with telling him my number (at the time). Ever since then, literally from that day forward, the topic of my “number” somehow always ended up becoming an issue for us. Well mainly for him. It was something that made him feel really insecure. Like, really REALLY insecure. He had a hard time coming to terms with it because he had never been with anyone besides me. At the end of the day I tried my hardest to be as supportive as I could, because I genuinely loved him so much and saw a future with him. I was able to recognize that it was a “him” problem and not so much a “me” problem. I was confident in my ability to remain smart and safe about my sex life. I got tested accordingly, I’ve never had any cause for concern other than a minor yeast infection one time. I felt that if this guy really, truly loved and care for me my number shouldn’t matter, but unfortunately he felt otherwise, and it was kinda just something I dealt with throughout the duration of our relationship.

Anyways, because of this whole experience I had, it did end up making me feel kinda insecure about my number. I am not proud of it, I can’t say I ever have been. Just knowing how much it affected my last relationship makes me scared for how it would affect any future relationships I may have. Now I do understand that a number is just a number, it doesn’t define who I am or my values as a person...it just makes me feel uncomfortable. And I genuinely don’t feel like it should be something a new potential partner absolutely NEEDS to know, unless there were some type of specific safety concern. Do you believe I am wrong in thinking this? Would appreciate other opinions.