Actors Who Refused To Kiss Other Actors On Screen

While many of us would love the opportunity to make out with the most popular Hollywood actors (Colin Firth, Orlando Bloom, or Leonardo DiCaprio are all worthy examples, in our opinion), there are stars who have felt the exact opposite. Whether it's bad breath, fear of catching something incurable, steadfast dedication to their religion, or anything else in between, many actors have straight-up refused to lock lips with their co-stars — even if it meant that their jobs were on the line, as was probably the case for many. 

Though we'll never actually know the extent of the fervently intimate scenes we may have missed out on as a result of their decisions, at the end of the day it was their choice, and we really can't be too mad at that. So which actors refused to make out with their co-stars? Here they are, and let us just warn you: Some might even be your faves.  

Irish-American actor Neal McDonough isn't down with smooching anyone other than his wife, which has often caused tension in his career. He reportedly doesn't believe in blurring the lines between reality and fiction, according to the Christian Examiner, and, therefore, he tries to separate the two as much as possible.

"Life is about honoring God and being the best human being you can be and giving praise to God in everything you do," McDonough explained to the publication. "Killing people on screen — that's fake. That's not real. When you're in bed with another woman on screen — guess what? That's real. I don't like that kind of stuff. Especially now with kids, I don't want to have my kids say, 'Hey, Dad, what are you doing with that lady on screen?'"

Though McDonough has every right to stick to his beliefs — including refusing to perform love scenes with TV wife Nicollette Sheridan on "Desperate Housewives" — that doesn't mean they don't come at a cost. According to the Daily Mail, the actor was fired for refusing to film love scenes in the show "Scoundrels" and was later replaced by David James Elliott — who had no problem being affectionate on camera.

There are probably tons of people out there who would have jumped at the opportunity to lock lips with Julia Roberts for her 1993 film, "The Pelican Brief." After all, the timeless beauty hasn't been named People magazine's most beautiful woman five times for no reason. However, Denzel Washington apparently had no interest in smooching Roberts, so he opted out of a kissing scene.

The actor reportedly decided not to film the scene with Roberts because he did not want to play into Hollywood's biased beauty ideals and alienate fans. Allison Samuels, a writer for Newsweek and The Daily Beast, talked about Washington's decision in her 2007 book, "Off the Record: A Reporter Unveils the Celebrity Worlds of Hollywood, Hip-hop, and Sports." According to Samuels, the Oscar-winner had this to say about foregoing that cinematic kiss: "Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film. And they have always been my core audience."

After Kirk Cameron married his "Growing Pains" co-star Chelsea Noble, he vowed to never kiss another woman — even if his job depended on it. So, when it came time for him to film a love scene in the 2008 drama flick "Fireproof," producers were tasked with dressing up his wife as Cameron's on-screen love interest and filming the shot in silhouette. 

When speaking with "Today" hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford back in 2008, Cameron opened up a bit more about his commitment to his wife, saying that he wanted to uphold marriage ideals as much as he could. He said, "So marriage is a very special and sacred thing to us. In a day and age where marriage is falling apart, we want to make movies and projects that really uphold and have a high view of that which is beautiful and wonderful in our culture."

Pakistani heartthrob Fawad Khan reportedly refused to kiss Alia Bhatt in the 2016 film "Kapoor & Sons" in an effort to avoid compromising his chastity. Bhatt later opened up about her experiences with Khan on set, claiming that he'd often been jumpy and uncomfortable during filming. "There was a kiss in the film with Fawad. When we did the scene, it was decided that we would cheat-kiss," she said, according to the Deccan Chronicle. "Still, every time I would go near his face, he would flinch. I had to keep reassuring him I wouldn't compromise his chastity."

Though he refused to make out with Bhatt, the site reported that Khan appeared to be open to the idea of being intimate on camera in the future. He explained, "You never know. I never say never. I'd rather walk the unpredictable path. Besides, I'd never like to throw in something titillating, just to spike and spice up a film. I kind of like the idea of virgin romance to just show the couple's feelings through words and gestures, and then leave the rest to the audiences' imagination."

Looks like his fans will just have to wait and see what happens.

Lindsay Lohan was reportedly supposed to kiss Charlie Sheen three times in one scene for the 2013 film "Scary Movie 5," but Lohan refused to go through with it. According to reports, she had concerns over the actor's sketchy partying history.

TMZ noted that Lohan had told producers that she wasn't comfortable with the scenes ahead of time. However, the script wasn't changed until the very last minute — perhaps in an effort to get Lohan to change her mind. Still, when it came time to shoot the scenes, a body double was called in to accommodate the actor's demands, and other parts were entirely written out.

Later, she reportedly started to feel bad about the situation and attempted to reach out to the actor to apologize, but, according to the Daily Mail, her phone broke and she couldn't get into contact with him. Perhaps it's all love now though because he totally gave her a hefty $100,000 to help with her tax debt in 2012.

Will Smith may be the undisputed king of the summer blockbuster, but early in his career, he tried his hand at small independent dramas. That brings us to 1993's "Six Degrees of Separation." Inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, Smith plays a con-man who infiltrates the lives of a wealthy Manhattan couple by posing at Sidney Poitier's son until his scheme unravels.

His character was gay, and according to the Independent, the film's director, Fred Schepisi, was furious when Smith refused to kiss a male co-star on camera. Smith reportedly sought advice from Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, who allegedly told him, "Don't be kissing no man." Smith insisted the scene be shot from behind, which enabled him to fake the kiss.

Smith has since regretted that decision, telling Entertainment Weekly that his refusal to perform the kiss as scripted was immature, adding, "I wasn't emotionally stable enough to artistically commit to that aspect of the film. In a movie with actors and a director and writer of this caliber, for me to be the one bringing something cheesy to it ... this was a valuable lesson for me. Either you do it, or you don't."

Back in 2008, Thandiwe Newton and Gerard Butler appeared alongside each other in director Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla." There was likely no doubt that the two attractive stars would sizzle on-screen as love interests; however, while they were filming, Butler came down with a nasty cold. "Gerry was very unwell indeed," Newton confirmed that same year, according to Newshub.

At that point, a certain music industry icon came to the rescue and tried to cure Butler — seriously. "I got a [vitamin] shot from [Ritchie's then-wife] Madonna! I was sick, and she was a nurse basically," the actor said. He continued by explaining that after he was introduced to the singer by her hubby, "She just said, 'Drop your pants.' I stood there with my little bottom out, and she gave me a shot in the bum!" While we may forever have that image stuck in our minds, Butler confessed that whatever Madonna gave him didn't work and he ended up even sicker than before. Despite that, he was still appreciative of the efforts.

Newton, on the other hand, might not have been so appreciative, as she admitted, "I wouldn't kiss him." Because of that, she said Ritchie improvised. She added, "I don't know how he coped with those problems but it ended up being one of the most brilliant scenes." So maybe, in the end, it was a good thing that Butler was a big ol' sick mess.

While plenty of Chace Crawford's fans would surely love to share a smooch with the former "Gossip Girl" actor, Leona Lewis told the Daily Mail in 2009, "They wanted me and Chace to kiss in the 'I Will Be' video. But I said no way." 

The 2006 winner of "The X Factor" admitted that she wasn't willing to get up close and personal with Crawford because she would have been embarrassed. While noting that they're friends, she added, "He's so beautiful, I mean, look at him — he could be a girl. He'd be a really pretty girl. But I just don't think of him like that. And it wouldn't be fair to Lou to kiss other guys." Music industry professional Lou Al-Chamaa was her boyfriend at the time, and when asked if he was jealous of the men that are cast to appear in Lewis' videos, she explained, "I think he would if I was kissing them, but I'd never do that."

Granted, the couple seemed to have had bigger issues to deal with, such as the fact that Al-Chamaa was nowhere around when Lewis went on her first tour, according to the Daily Mail. And when they split after being together for over a decade, an insider told the Evening Standard that Lewis was heartbroken.

We wonder how Lewis feels about kissing her on-screen love interests now that she's married to her longtime love, choreographer Dennis Jauch.

When Kimberly McCullough was a 14-year-old actor on "General Hospital," she'd only had one kiss thus far. That's why she became extremely nervous when she found out that a scene involved an intense kiss with another character, she revealed on her website in 2017. The situation got even worse for McCullough when she came to work, only to find out that her on-screen kiss wasn't with another teenager but with a 22-year-old man. 

While your skin is undoubtedly already crawling, you'll surely feel almost as sick as McCullough did when you find out that during rehearsal, that adult actor joked with another actor that he had condoms ready for a date with the teen. When McCullough spoke to a producer, she was told that she should just be grateful to work with such a talented star. McCullough noted: "This actor did go on to do big movies, so she was right about that."

Although the actor tried to apologize, McCullough was still upset and refused to do the kiss. "With the director and the crew watching me, I stood my ground. He kissed me on the cheek instead of the 'long kiss' at the end of the scene," she recalled. While she acknowledged that it was a small victory, she also has no doubt she was deemed to be difficult as a result of standing up for herself.