Penn Badgley's sister-in-law Jemima Kirke has weighed in on the actor's controversial request to end on-screen intimacy.
As previously reported, the 36-year-old star of the Netflix series, You, revealed in February that the reduction of sex scenes in the thriller's most recent season was a result of his direct plea.
Explaining his reasoning in an episode of his podcast, Podcrushed, Badgley said: "Fidelity in every relationship, including my marriage, is important to me. It's got to the point where I don't want to do that. So I said 'my desire would be zero, to go from 100 to zero.'"
The former Gossip Girl actor explained that his contract played a big part in his portrayal of the character Joe Goldberg. He also stated that the show's runner, Sera Gamble, gladly accepted his request.
"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 to them," Badgley continued.
He revealed that Gamble "was really glad that I was that honest," about his limitations on set, adding: "She was sort of almost, I want to say empowered, it had a really positive response. They came back with a phenomenal reduction".
During an interview with GQ, the 36-year-old former Girls actress - who is the older sister of Badgley's wife, Domino Kirke - was asked her opinion on her brother-in-law's stance on filming intimate scenes.
"I’m not saying I agree with it. But I do understand," she said. "I’ve never dated an actor but I’d imagine it would be difficult to see or know that your spouse is being physical with someone else. But it’s probably just as hard to know they’re playing a character who’s falling madly in love with another character."
The Sex Education star went on to state that actors asking for fewer sex scenes would probably "go further" in the future and clarified: "That’s not to say I will partake in that view of things.
"Because to be honest it’s never really happened to me. I’ve never done a sex or a love scene and come home and not loved, or been as attracted to my spouse," she added.
Kirke played Jessa in all six seasons of the comedy show Girls, which ran from 2012 to 2017. While on the topic of sex scenes, she reflected on her time on the series and admitted that the approach to filming intimacy was "very different" compared to how it works in a post-#MeToo landscape.
"We thought that by being less precious about our bodies, and by not thinking of them as something to hide or protect against the male gaze, that was our version of feminism at the time. And I felt it, I liked it, I agreed with it. It was not in line with what #MeToo became. It didn’t really catch on," she explained.
