Kissing scenes may very well be commonplace in the 21st century, but that doesn't mean
actors feel all that comfortable doing them.
Sometimes, actors have flat-out refused to do a kissing scene with a costar.
Here are some surprising celebs who just wouldn't purse those lips.
Kirk Cameron
In the 2008 film Fireproof, Kirk Cameron was slated to share an onscreen kiss with Erin
Bethea, who was playing his wife, but he wouldn't do it.
Although the kiss and the film itself were very PG, the evangelical Christian actor still
refused.
In an interview with Today, he revealed why, saying,
"I have a commitment not to kiss any other woman."
But if you've watched Fireproof, you know that Cameron actually does kiss his onscreen
wife.
While it may seem like he had a change of heart, it was actually some fancy footwork
on the part of the filmmakers.
Cameron's real-life wife, actress Chelsea Noble, stepped in for the kissing scene.
Since it was shot in silhouette and Noble was dressed the same as Bethea, no one was
the wiser.
As Cameron put it,
"But when I'm kissing my wife, I'm actually kissing my wife Chelsea, not the actress in
the film.
And that story sort of blew up like 'Oh can you believe it!?'
And I thought 'uh that's Husband 101.'"
Neal McDonough
Although Neal McDonough has starred in dozens of well-known films, you'll never, ever see
him kiss a costar on screen.
Speaking to The Christian Examiner in 2016, the devout Catholic actor said,
"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.
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?'"
As a husband and father of five, McDonough says he doesn't want his kids to question
his onscreen actions, at least when it comes to kissing and using "the Lord's name in vain."
Violence, however, is another matter.
As he sees it, there are really only two roles to choose from in Hollywood: the leading man
who kisses girls or the bad guy who kills people.
He admits he's chosen the latter, but hopes to see more faith-based films in his future.
"I'm not a monster."
Denzel Washington
Although Denzel Washington has had plenty of onscreen kisses, things were different
during 1993's The Pelican Brief.
In a 2002 interview with Newsweek, his co-star Julia Roberts revealed that she pushed for
Washington to be the leading man from the beginning.
She also admitted,
"I have taken so much s--- over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film."
As it turns out, though, it wasn't her decision.
She wanted to kiss her co-star, but he was in favor of cutting those scenes.
Due to his own history, Washington was worried about how audiences would react to a black
man kissing a white woman.
During a test screening of his 1989 film The Mighty Quinn, a deleted scene in which he
kissed Mimi Rogers resulted in, according to him, loud boos from a test screening audience,
primarily from black women.
He didn't want to cause offense a second time.
Lindsay Lohan
During the filming of Scary Movie 5, Lindsay Lohan refused to kiss Charlie Sheen.
Citing sources close to the actress, TMZ claimed that she wouldn't kiss the actor based on
his "spotty history."
They were supposed to share three onscreen kisses, but instead, they used a body double
for some scenes while changing the script to write out the rest of the smooches.
Although neither actor has spoken publicly about the matter, Lohan and Sheen also worked
together on an episode of Sheen's FX sitcom Anger Management in 2013 and were, at the
very least, friendly.
In an interview on the Australian radio show Kyle & Jackie O, Sheen said he invited Lohan
over to his house after they finished filming.
Describing how the night went down, he revealed,
"Either I outdrank her, or she outdrank me, and all I know is, she tucked me into bed
and said, 'Sleep well, sweet prince."
The interaction may've been strange, but Sheen claimed nothing more, not even a kiss, happened
between the two.
It's also worth noting that a spokesperson for Lohan denied that this incident ever actually
happened.
Tisha Campbell
Although audiences fell in love with Martin and Gina in the '90s sitcom Martin, what was
happening behind the scenes was a different matter altogether.
In 1997, court documents filed by Tisha Campbell, the actress who played Gina, accused Martin
Lawrence, her onscreen husband, of humiliating and abusing her so badly that she needed to
be hospitalized for stress.
Campbell alleged that Lawrence would also forcefully kiss her when they weren't rehearsing
or filming.
By the show's fifth season, she went to the writers to plead with them to stop writing
romantic bedroom scenes, but they continued to do so.
Then, in the wake of an outburst from Martin that left her, in the words of her own lawsuit
against HBO, "terrified and concerned for her safety," she left the show for good.
In the years since, Lawrence and Campbell appear to have reconciled.