Penn Badgley’s wife Domino Kirke has addressed rumours that she stopped the You actor doing sex scenes.
The couple, who tied the knot in 2017, faced intense scrutiny when it was reported that Kirke, 42, had asked Badgley, 39, to abstain from sex scenes.
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In an Instagram video shared on Monday, she admitted that she continues “to get DMs about this thing that happened three years ago.”
The professional doula continued: “the characters that my husband has played over the years, people have come to expect that he will continue to play that guy.
“I was super happy for him and very proud of him because I understood how major it was. And yeah, it’s just relational hygiene.”
She went on to tell fans to “get over it” as she reflected on the fact she still receives messages about this statement.
“I want to say to those of you who still DM me about my husband deciding to do this for himself and his mental health, like, get over it,” she added.
Kirke captioned the post: “A few years ago, the internet decided I’d asked my husband to stop doing sex scenes. The truth is, my husband decided to do this for his own mental health reason. After working in the industry since he was just 12 years old, believe me, it was time.
“Caregivers are so ready to be invisible, collapse, disappear, or take direction no matter what. They’re constantly allowing folks to blaze past their boundaries, all in the spirit of being accommodating or, in my husband’s case, entertaining.
“They’re OK with being forgettable. Sometimes I ask people what their doula’s name was, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t remember!’ So finally, after years of trying, Penn decided to take a stand and let the world see him. And guess what … he hasn’t lost fans and he’s still getting hired!”
During an appearance on the Podcrushed podcast in 2023, Badgley revealed that he had requested to be involved in less intimate scenes while filming the Netflix thriller You.
“I asked Sera Gamble Rebecca Sayce, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’ Fidelity in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is really important to me.
“I said to Sera, ‘My desire would be zero, to go from 100 to zero,’ but I signed this contract, I signed up for this show, I know what I did. You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept, so, ‘How much less can you make it?’ was my question for them.”