Actors Who Chose Not to Kiss Costars or Film Sex Scenes

Penn Badgley, Neal McDonough and more stars have candidly discussed their decisions not to film sex scenes in future projects.

When season 4 of You premiered in February 2023, the Gossip Girl alum broke down how his marriage to Domino Kirke shifted his time filming the Netflix series.

“I asked [the creator of the show] Sera Gamble, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’” Badgley revealed during an episode of his “Podcrushed” podcast. “This is actually a decision I’d made before I took the show.”

He continued: “I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things was, like, do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m just always the romantic lead. Fidelity in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is really important to me.”

At the time, the actor explained that he thought about cutting back on intimacy scenes as soon as he accepted the role of Joe Goldberg. (You debuted in 2018.)

Meanwhile, McDonough claimed his stance on not kissing costars cost him a role on ABC’s Scoundrels.

“I was [surprised], and it was a horrible situation for me,” the 100 alum recalled to Closer in 2019 about his decision not to film steamy scenes with Virginia Madsen. “After that, I couldn’t get a job because everybody thought I was this religious zealot. I am very religious. I put God and family first, and me second. That’s what I live by. It was hard for a few years. But I was not going to lose the fight. And it worked. My career has been phenomenal.”

Scroll down for other stars who have publicly opted out of filming sex scenes: