7 Stars Who Refused to Film Kissing Scenes

Find out why these stars turned down their on-screen smooches…

1. Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington usually isn't shy about romantic scenes in his films but for his 1993 flick "Pelican Brief," he decided against locking lips with his co-star Julia Roberts. He says the decision was made so as to not offend some moviegoers who had previously taken issue with a proposed interracial relationship with Mimi Rogers in "The Mighty Quinn." Romance scenes were deleted from both films and Denzel decided to be more cautious about his love scenes moving forward.

"I have taken so much s--- over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film. Don't I have a pulse? Of course I wanted to kiss Denzel. It was his idea to take the damn scenes out," Julia told Newsweek.

2. Lindsay Lohan

Back in 2012, Lindsay Lohan was working on "Scary Movie 5" alongside Charlie Sheen when she reportedly decided she wanted to cut all kissing scenes from the flick. According to TMZ, Lindsay wasn't a fan of Charlie's wild partying past. She was supposed to kiss Charlie three times during their bedroom scene but since she refused, filmmakers had to get creative. While they wrote out most of the kissing scenes, in some moments they ended up having to use a body double.

3. Candace Cameron Bure

Candace Cameron Bure hasn't completely ruled out onscreen kissing just yet but it's no secret that it makes both her and her husband uncomfortable. When Candace's "Fuller House" character was in the middle of a love triangle, she said she was "kind of over" having to kiss two different men. Meanwhile, she has a new love interest in each of her Hallmark movies, which she isn't a big fan of either.

"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!'" Candance said during a panel at The Paley Center.

Meanwhile, Candance's husband doesn't watch anything she films because he's "uncomfortable." She says she respects his boundaries, and noted that he's never tried to stop her from doing her job.

4. Kirk Cameron

Candace's brother Kirk has ruled out kissing scenes all together — unless they're with his wife Chelsea Noble. When his role in "Fireproof" involved an onscreen lip lock, the religious actor refused. Instead of writing the scene out of the film, the directors had Chelsea step in as a body double and shot the scene in silhouette so that Kirk could still honor his commitment to his wife.

"I have a commitment not to kiss any other woman. So when I'm kissing my wife, we're actually husband and wife honoring marriage behind the scenes," Kirk told "Today."

5. Neal McDonough

Neal McDonough has had some big on-screen moments during his career, but none of them have involved romantic scenes. The religious actor says that he won't kiss his co-stars out of respect for his wife and children.

"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?'" Neal told Christian Examiner.

6. Thandiwe Newton

Thandiwe Newton turned down a kiss with Gerard Butler in their flick "RocknRolla" but her reasoning makes a lot of sense. At the time, Thandiwe says Gerard was very sick and she didn't want to catch whatever he had. Director Guy Richie had to work around it — and he managed to pull it off really well!

"Gerry was very unwell indeed. So I wouldn't kiss him. Guy had to improvise. I don't know how he coped with those problems but it ended up being one of the most brilliant scenes," Thandiwe reportedly told Bang Showbiz.

7. Kimberly McCullough

When Kimberly McCullough was just 14 years old, she was asked to share a "long kiss" with a 22-year-old guest actor on "General Hospital." Kimberly wasn't comfortable with the age gap with the fellow actor — especially after she heard him making "crude remarks" about the scene. When she spoke to the producer, her request to remove the scene was denied but she ended up holding her ground all the way up until filming.

"When it came time to do the scene, I refused to kiss him. 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. Yes, it was a small victory on my part, but I'm sure people called me 'difficult' as a result," Kimberly wrote on her blog.