Neal McDonough, the actor best known for Suits, Yellowstone, and Band of Brothers, has spoken out about being 'blacklisted' from Hollywood.
The actor has opened up in the past about how he refused to kiss other women on screen, stating that it has always been contractually stated that it’s a line he won’t cross.
While the 59-year-old has now found regular work across TV and film, he claimed that due to Hollywood’s response to his strict rule he ‘lost everything’ and turned to drinking.
McDonough has been married to his wife Ruvé Robertson since 2003, with the pair meeting while the actor was filming Band of Brothers in 2000.
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Speaking about his rule previously, the Suits star stated that, while Ruvé was comfortable with him kissing other people on screen, he personally didn’t want to be intimate with anyone else bar his wife.
In the newest episode of the Nothing Left Unsaid podcast, he explained that even though his wife is okay with, ‘it was [him], really, who had a problem with it’.
The actor went on to claim: “When I couldn’t do it, and they couldn’t understand it, Hollywood just completely turned on me. They wouldn’t let me be part of the show anymore.”
McDonough stated that he couldn’t get a job for two years, adding that he lost ‘everything you could possibly imagine’.
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He said: “Not just houses and material things, but your swagger, your cool, who you are, your identity - everything.
“My identity was an actor, and a really good one. And once you don’t have that identity, you’re kind of lost in a tailspin.”
While he stated that he would never drink on set due to his love of the craft, he had started drinking heavily as part of an ‘ugly tailspin’.
McDonough clearly sees the humour in it still though as, when asked on the podcast why he has the rule, he said: “Well, my wife is really hot.
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“That’s the other thing, she’s a really good looking woman and everything pales in comparison to Ruvé.”
He went on to state that upon reading the script for his newest film, The Last Rodeo, he initially wanted to turn down the role as it involved kissing the character’s wife.
Instead of turning it down or breaking his rule, however, McDonough came up with a solution, convincing the producers to cast his wife Ruvé in the movie.
It's her first time acting in a film and, of course, marks McDonough’s first ever on-screen kiss.
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Speaking to Woman’s World about starring opposite his real-life wife in The Last Rodeo, McDonough admitted: “I’ve never been the hero of the movie. I’ve never been in the position where I get to kiss the girl in the end.
“In this I convinced my wife, Ruvé, who helped produce this with us and financed the film. I said, ‘Honey, you have to be in the film because I have to kiss the girl in the end.’
“And we did it, and that was one of my favourite moments I’ve ever had on a set where there I am wearing the hero hat being directed by my favourite director of all time, Jon Avnet, kissing my wife in a movie. I’ve always wanted to do it. It was awesome.”
Topics: TV and Film, Film, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Michael Slavin