The (No) naked truth
Stars reveal why they refuse to bare all for TV and movie roles… By Niamh Mceneaney
Actor Penn Badgley recently revealed that he requested“zero”sex scenes in the new season of Netflix seriesyou. On a recent episode of his podcast, Podcrushed, he spoke about his career trajectory after he got married, saying, “I don’t think I have ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things was, Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always the romantic lead?”
One of his reasons is his wife, Domino Kirke-badgley, whom he wed in 2017.
“Fidelity in every relationship, including my marriage, is important to me,”badgley said.“it’s got to the point where I don’t want to do that.”
And in a recent interview with Variety, Badgley expanded on his discomfort with filming sex scenes, saying,“that aspect of Hollywood has always been very disturbing to me — and that aspect of the job, that mercurial boundary — has always been something that I actually don’t want to play with at all.”
Since the release ofyou’s first season back in 2018, the series had attracted attention for its frequent sex scenes.
Badgley admitted he had“done a fair amount of them in my career”, but also noted that he is now older than the actors playing his romantic interests on the show.
The actor went on to state that it was “important to me in my real life”not to perform sex scenes on film…“and actually, it was one of the reasons that I initially wanted to turn the role down. I didn’t tell anybody that. But that is why”.
In an interview with Vanity Fair about his recent film Marlowe, Liam Neeson added to the discourse involving male actors and on-screen sex and agreed with Badgley’s views. The Taken star said,“yeah, I absolutely agree and support him. I don’t like to do them. I’ve done quite a few sex scenes and I would have preferred to leave it to the imagination, especially for ladies, the actresses. I’ll be honest, when I see a sex scene, I just can’t look at them. I just get embarrassed. I know they are choreographed and stuff, but I don’t need to see that.”
Badgley and Neeson are two of many stars who refuse to bare all for their craft.
Julia Roberts is known for her strong female leads, like Erin Brockovich and Vivian from Pretty Woman, but you’ll never see her characters get naked. Speaking about sex scenes in 2009, she told the Daily Mail,“you know it’s not really what I do, so if you are going ask me to do it, you have to expect it to be toned down.you know, as a [mother] of three, I feel like that”.
Although Anna Kendrick appeared to be naked in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, she actually used a body double as the actress absolutely refuses to do nude scenes. She told
The Telegraph,“i will not do that... I am not criticising people who do [nude scenes], but I plan to keep doing what I am doing and hope it keeps going good.”
Actor Samuel L. Jackson has been in the game for some time, but he still refuses to go full frontal in any of his movies because he’s, well, worried about his endowment. He told Howard Stern that he“might ask for a d**k double. I don’t know if it’s formidable enough.”
Although she became famous for her leading role on a show centred around sex, Sarah Jessica Parker refuses to do any scenes where she appears naked. In fact, she is the only actress
“I DON’T THINK THAT WILL EVER BE RIGHT FOR ME.”
from the series who did not appear nude in the series. She told The Hollywood Reporter she always had a no-nudity clause in her contacts, saying,“i don’t have any judgement about anyone who chooses to do it. I think it’s fantastic that people feel comfortable doing it. It’s not some kind of principled position or religious or ideological on my part.”
Kristen Bell is known for her roles in Frozen and The Good Place, which are both geared towards G-rated audiences, and that’s just how she likes it. She told Women’s Health,“i don’t show my crack! All the Mr. Skins of the world are like, ‘Ooh, Kristen get naked!’ I’m like, ‘Dream on!’”
Jessica Alba has starred in some popular films, including Honey and Fantastic Four, however, she never shows much skin. In an interview with Glamour, she said, “I don’t want my grandparents to see my boobs. That’s it. It would be weird at Christmas. And, I mean, really, if you look at the movies I have done, getting naked would never ‘elevate’ the picture.”
Jennifer Garner has hopped from children’s movies like Love, Simon to powerful dramas like Peppermint, and she has so far avoided any nude scenes — and she plans to keep it that way. She told MTV,“I will not be taking it all off... No, thank you. The world deserves better. Not interested.”
Blake Lively, known for playing Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, told the Daily Mail that she won’t be appearing nude in any film or TV show any time soon.“when I see nudity in movies, I am always distracted by it,”she said.“i know that if I am watching a scene and someone has their boobs out, then that’s all I’m looking at — I can’t help it. I just don’t think that will ever be right for me.”
The O.C. star Rachel Bilson told Playboy she almost lost a role because of her refusal to do a nude scene. She said, “Movies can be sexy or sexual without showing things. It’s almost a deal breaker. The movie was rated R, and they like to put in nudity wherever they can, but I’m pretty strong-willed and believe it can be avoided.”
Jessica Simpson was hailed for her portrayal of sexy Daisy Duke in the Dukes Of Hazzard but she downright refused any naked scenes. She told Allure back in 2010 that nudity is completely off the table. Simpson said,“i will never do nudity. I don’t care how dark and intellectual the role could be, you know? I don’t care if I frickin’ get an Oscar for it,
I’m not going to do it. Those accolades mean nothing to me.”
Ricky Gervais is one of the most wellknown comedians in Hollywood, but he refuses to bare all for laughs like some of his fellow comedians love to do. In an interview with MTV he said,“there’s no chance of me doing it.”but he went on to explain that he would consider using a body double if the scene required him to go nude.
Hilary Duff is one of few Disney Channel stars who hasn’t gone through a public scandal — and she plans on keeping her squeaky clean image. The actress told The Telegraph,“if I do a movie I want to be myself. I don’t want to take my top off or anything. In the States, it seems it’s the trend to turn 18 or 19 and then take your shirt off and do something crazy, and I don’t know what comes after that.”
Made famous for her leading role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar refuses to bare all for audiences. Though she hasn’t publicly talked about her decision, Page Six reports that she has turned down roles because it required her to take off her top. Her rep told the tabloid that“sarah doesn’t do nudity, period. It has never been her thing.”
While her Girls co-star, Lena
Dunham, bared all on camera, Allison Williams kept her clothes on — the only actress on the show to do so. She told ABC she “wanted to give Marnie almost all of myself. But there were things that felt like they should be mine and felt like they should always be mine.”in fact, when she was asked to sign a nudity waiver, she refused to. She explained that she doesn’t want her future children to see her naked.“it just didn’t feel like me,”she told the network.
While Mandy Moore hit it big as a teen star, she got a second claim to fame with the smash hit series This Is Us. But the actress has zero interest in doing any nude scenes these days.“i’m a modest girl,”she told Entertainment Tonight.“no one has seen my butt besides me behind closed doors.”as for the scene in Chasing Liberty where her rear was exposed, she says she hired a body double to stand in for her.
Although Megan Fox is often lauded as a sex symbol, she refuses to bare all. In fact, she has stepped out of the spotlight to avoid roles that require her to take off her clothes.“there are some good projects I’ve read that are with talented people, talented directors, but the things the women are required to do in the movie are things I can’t have my sons ever know or see,”she told The Mirror. She explained that she was offered a role to play a prostitute on HBO, but turned it down because of the graphic sex scenes. “Those are things that are degrading to the woman who’s playing the character,”she said. Ashley Benson popped onto the scene with her role in Pretty Little Liars and later starred in the provocative Spring Breakers. But in that film she refused to bare it all, telling Cosmopolitan,“i never want to do nudity that’s gratuitous. Girls look so much better in lingerie or a T-shirt and leave the rest up to the imagination.”she further explained that she would walk off set if she felt the executives and director were being too pushy.“you can do it without me,” she said. ■