While many of us would love the opportunity to make out with the most popular Hollywood
actors, not all stars share our celebrity-crush dreams.
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.
So which actors refused to make out with their co-stars?
Here they are, but we're warning you: Some just might even be your faves.
Neal McDonough
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 isn't "okay" with blurring the lines between reality and fiction, according
to the Christian Examiner, and, therefore, he tries to separate the two as much as possible.
McDonough told to the publication:
"Life is about honoring God and being the best human being you can be and giving praise
to God in everything you do.
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."
Though McDonough has every right to stick to his beliefs, 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.
Denzel Washington
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 the world'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."
Candace Cameron Bure
You might have enjoyed seeing DJ, played by Candace Cameron Bure, go back and forth in
her love triangle with Steve and Matt on the Full House revival, Fuller House, but the
actress completely hated it.
In fact, she's not into being intimate with anyone who isn't her real-life spouse.
The reason?
Well, apparently, she's a devout Christian and doesn't believe in doing anything too
risqué on camera.
In 2017, she told Us Weekly:
"Sometimes I'm doing my Hallmark movies and we've got a new guy in each movie.
I'm getting more uncomfortable with it the older I'm getting.
I'm like, 'I don't want to keep doing this!'"
Of course, acting pays her bills and kissing scenes can come with the territory, but she
also told Us Weekly that her husband barely comes to set to watch her film because it
apparently bothers him, too.
She continued:
"He actually doesn't watch anything that I do for that very reason.
Because it is uncomfortable and I totally understand and respect it."
Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart has starred in all kinds of films, but there are some roles that are just way
out of his comfort zone.
In 2015, he revealed that he wasn't comfortable with playing either a gay character or someone
"real flagrant."
We would guess it's because he isn't up for any potential love scenes with the same sex.
The actor told The Breakfast Club back in 2015:
"It's because I feel like I can't do it, because I don't think I'm going to really dive into
that role 100 percent."
He continued, "Because of insecurities about myself trying to play that part."
At the time of this writing, Hart has yet to sign on for a role as a gay character,
but he did, however, deliver a smooch to Dwayne Johnson for their 2016 film Central Intelligence.
Then again it's Dwayne Johnson, how could you not?
Kirk Cameron
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 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:
"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."
That's all swell and dandy, but Cameron's also told the Christian Post:
"Wives are to honor and respect and follow their husband's lead, not to tell their husband
how he ought to be a better husband."
So take a any marital advice from this guy with a grain of salt.
Janet Jackson
The 1995 romantic drama Poetic Justice boasted undeniable on-screen chemistry between Justice
and Lucky, played by Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, respectively.
But things were a different story behind the scenes.
Before Jackson would kiss Shakur, she reportedly demanded that the rapper get an AIDS test.
In an interview with The Source, the "All Eyez On Me" rapper said he turned down the
request.
"It's just, to me, like an insult, you know, just to ask me that."
Even if Shakur had the disease, the only way Jackson could have contracted it was if both
she and the rapper had deep cuts in their mouths — not just by a simple peck, as demonstrated
in the film.
In Jackson's defense, however, AIDS was a controversial disease at the time, and there
was a huge amount of stigma surrounding it.
But, fortunately for us Poetic Justice fans, with Shakur's refusal, the singer was forced
to film the scene anyway.
Fawad Khan
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.
In early 2017, the Deccan Chronicle reported that, even though the two decided to "cheat-kiss,"
Khan still seemed uncomfortable when Bhatt closed in on him.
She said:
" ... 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 audience's imagination."
Looks like his fans will just have to wait and see what happens.
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan was reportedly supposed to kiss Charlie Sheen three times in one scene for
the 2013 film Scary Movie 5, but the actress refused to go through with it.
According to reports, she had concerns over the actor's sketchy partying history.
TMZ noted that Lindsay 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 actress' 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.
There's clearly no hard feelings: Sheen gave Lohan a hefty $100,000 to help with her tax
debt.
Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley
Nobody wants to kiss someone with bad breath, which is reportedly why there was some friction
between Teller and Woodley during filming of the 2013 movie The Spectacular Now.
Apparently, Woodley had been taking Chinese herbs, but Teller couldn't bear the way they
made the actress' breath smell.
And Woodley, on the other hand, had a problem with all of the Gatorade her co-star drank.
Teller opened up about their behind-the-scenes drama in a 2013 interview with Vulture.
He said, "She would be like, 'Are you serious?
You're gonna kiss me after that?'
I was like, 'Yeah, I am.'
She would take these herbal supplements, these Chinese herbal supplements, and they tasted
like crap.
And she would always eat them right before we had a kissing scene!
We put stuff in our mouths so we could just offend each other."
The good news is that they were able to pull off the kiss for the sake of the film, no
matter what crazy methods they had to employ to get through the scenes.
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