Actor Neal McDonough recently opened up about a difficult period in his career, revealing that he was effectively blacklisted from Hollywood for refusing to kiss anyone other than his wife onscreen. In a preview of the Nothing Left Unsaid podcast, shared, McDonough described how this personal boundary caused significant professional backlash.
“I’d always had in my contracts I wouldn’t kiss another woman onscreen,” McDonough explained, adding that while his wife, Ruvé McDonough, supported the choice, industry decision-makers did not. “When I couldn’t do it, and they couldn’t understand it, Hollywood just completely turned on me.”
According to the Yellowstone and Suits actor, the fallout led to a two-year stretch without work. “I lost everything you could possibly imagine—not just houses and material things, but your swagger, your cool, your identity,” he said. The absence of acting roles pushed him into what he described as a "tailspin," even leading to struggles with alcohol before regaining his footing with his family's support.
McDonough has previously spoken about this issue, notably telling Closer Weekly in 2019 that he was fired from the ABC series Scoundrels in 2010 for refusing to film intimate scenes. “Everybody thought I was this religious zealot,” he said at the time. “I put God and family first, and me second.”
His comeback began when Band of Brothers producer Graham Yost cast him in Justified. More recently, McDonough starred in The Last Rodeo, released in May 2025, where he worked around his onscreen intimacy rule by casting his real-life wife as his character’s spouse.
The full interview, covering his career struggles and reflections on typecasting, is set to air on Nothing Left Unsaid this week.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ