14 Famous People Who've Opened Up About Filming Sex Scenes With Their Real-Life Partners

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

1.Riley Keough's husband Ben Smith-Petersen guest-starred on her show Daisy Jones & the Six as one of the guys her character hooks up with.

Riley and Ben
Axelle / FilmMagic

And while the producers thought it'd be a funny Easter egg, Riley explained that it was actually more awkward than anyone expected.

Riley on top of Ben in the sex scene

2.Dave Franco has been married to Alison Brie since 2017 and she's starred in a few of the movies he's directed, including Somebody I Used to Know, where she has a few "intimate scenes" with costar Jay Ellis.

Dave and Alison
Steve Granitz / FilmMagic

When asked if there's any awkwardness knowing her husband is behind the camera Alison said, "It doesn't make Dave and I uncomfortable."

closeup of Alison and Jay with their faces close together

She explained, "I realize that it sounds wild, but we are actors, this is our job. It’s actually not that weird. And with something like this, because it’s our baby that we made together, I think our first priority is always just the movie.”

Prime Video / Everett

3.Viola Davis's actual husband, Julius Tennon, joined How To Get Away With Murder as her onscreen love interest and she explained that filming a sex scene with him felt "safe."

closeup of the two
Jason Laveris / FilmMagic

She shared this anecdote with Jimmy Kimmel: "He had to take my panties off at one point, and then I had to keep resetting them — you know, because you have to keep doing the scene over and over again...But I forgot to reset them once. And so we got to the point, and he went to go pull them off. And [he went], 'V, you forgot to put your panties back on!'"

closeup of the two kissing
ABC

4.Maggie Gyllenhaal, who's been married to Peter Sarsgaard since 2009, cast him in her directorial debut The Lost Daughter. Knowing that she'd have to direct him in a sex scene she initially thought "maybe it's not a great idea."

closeup of the two

However, she added, "I've been with my husband for a long time. We've been through so much. I know my husband loves me. Who could do this better than him? Really, nobody."

Momodu Mansaray / Getty Images

Peter also joked about the experience by saying, "I've been recommending this to absolutely everyone. I don't think there's any relationship that wouldn't be helped by it!"

closeup of peter with his costar

And added "The nice thing about it is seeing someone else adore your spouse. The way that these two characters connect is not just about sex, it's about the mind. That's really gratifying."

Netflix / Everett

5.Judd Apatow has directed his wife Leslie Mann in several of his movies including The Bubble and This Is 40, both of which feature her character in sex scenes.

the two with their arms around each other
Lionel Hahn / Getty Images

Leslie explained that having her husband direct her in those scenes isn't as awkward as she expected. She shared, "He doesn’t get jealous, and it’s really weird. I think if we had mood lighting and it was a serious sex scene, then it might get awkward. But it’s just so goofy that I don’t think he cares.”

leslie making out with a costar in bed

6.Angelina Jolie cast Brad Pitt in her movie By The Sea, where they played a married couple and had a few intimate scenes together. She said the only way to make the scenes feel more comfortable was to "talk about the absurdity of it."

the couple at an event

She added, "I couldn't get out of the bathtub to get to the monitor because the director is naked. We're artists and want to be free, but Brad — it's his wife. He was on towel duty. He'd hold the towel over me."

angelina and brad in the tub
Universal

7.Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys played a couple on The Americans for several years and Keri explained that the sex scenes weren't too awkward because they're "comfortable together."

closeup of the couple
Mike Coppola / Getty Images

Matthew added, "I get a little protective. I'm like, 'Can someone get her a fucking robe, please?! She's standing there naked, we've cut for five seconds, Jesus Christ.' And they're like, 'Dude, this is the fourth season.'"

keri and matthew naked in bed
USA

8.Kate Winslet had an intimate scene with Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Revolutionary Road, which was directed by her then-husband Sam Mendes.

Kate and Sam on the red carpet
Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic

She shared that it was a little bit odd for her knowing that her husband was just a few feet away and said, “It was the element of, ‘OK my husband is over there.’ That was a bit weird.”

kate and leo making out
DreamWorks

9.Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky played a couple in 12 Strong and he joked, "We'd been rehearsing for these characters for seven or eight years."

closeup of the couple at an event
Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images

As for filming the sex scenes, he added that those weren't quite what they were used to at home. He said, "That was the big difference — the cameras and the lights — that we weren't accustomed to. It's not the usual setting for us."

closeup of the two in bed together
Warner Bros.

10.Melissa McCarthy has acted in several of her husband, Ben Falcone's, movies, Life of the Party, specifically, features an intimate scene with Melissa and her costar Luke Benward.

closeup of the couple at an event
Gabe Ginsberg / WireImage

Coincidentally, Melissa revealed that they shot that scene on their wedding anniversary. She added, "It was so creepy, but it was pretty funny. [Ben] was like, 'Grab his butt! Happy anniversary!'"

Melissa making out with her costar in a library

11.Madonna was directed by her then-husband Guy Ritchie in a sex scene in the movie Swept Away. She revealed that the scene was filmed toward the end of shooting because "the whole crew was waiting for Guy's head to explode off his body."

closeup of Madonna and Guy

"We saved the physical stuff to the very end of the shooting — and I think everyone expected, like, bombs to go off," she added.

Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic

Madonna's scene partner, Adriano Giannini, even shared that he was "terrified" to film the scene in front of her husband.

Adriana and Madonna making out on the beach
Sony Pictures Releasing

12.Kate Beckinsale was featured in a sex scene alongside Colin Farrell in Total Recall, which was directed by her then-husband Len Wiseman. And apparently, Colin was more uncomfortable than either of them.

Kate and Len at an event

"I’ve done it with somebody else in front of my husband before so I think it was actually more awkward for Colin," She said. "He was the one who was like, ‘Are we done? Are we good?’"

Lester Cohen / WireImage

She also added that she'd never be as comfortable as her then-husband was in that situation: "It’s nice that Len is not very jealous and can be relaxed about me doing these scenes, but he would never be allowed to do that."

Kate hugging Colin from behind while naked in bed
Sony Pictures Releasing

13.Anna Paquin and her husband Stephen Moyer originally met on the set of True Blood, where they played love interests. Years later, he got to direct an episode of the show that featured a "pretty intense" sex scene between Anna and Joe Manganiello.

Anna and Stephen

“Once [you've] been directed in these circumstances, with a naked bloodied man and having wild sex with someone else, ­nothing’s weird anymore," she explained.

Anna and Joe in bed
HBO

14.Finally, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were dating at the same time they played a couple in the Twilight movies. He revealed that because of their off-screen relationship, he felt even more uncomfortable filming sex scenes for the movie.

closeup of robert and kristen
Dave J Hogan / Getty Images

"I think the more comfortable you are with each other, the harder it gets to do any kind of really intense relationship scene," he shared. "You're kind of thinking, 'I don't want to embarrass myself in front of this person.' Watching other people have sex is never going to be that spectacular anyway. It's a strange thing when there's so much hype about it. You are like, 'God, I hope this lives up to it.'"

robert and kristen kissing in the ocean
Summit