Ali Condon
Jemima Kirke has commented on her brother-in-law Penn Badgley's requests to cut down on the sex scenes in his hit Netflix series You.
Penn, who has been married to Jemima's sister Domino Kirke since 2017, spoke earlier this year about his decision to bring the show's raunchy sex scenes down from '100 to zero' out of respect to his marriage.
Explaining the decision on his podcast Podcrushed, he told listeners back in February: "Fidelity in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is really important to me.
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"It just got to a point where I don’t want to do that."
He also shared that, when he brought the request to series writer Sera Gamble, she 'didn't even bat an eye' and was 'really glad that [her] was that honest and had a really positive response'.
As a result, you may have noticed that the very few sex scenes in season four of the Netflix show are far more tame compared to previous seasons.
Now, Penn's sister-in-law, Girls star Jemima Kirke has shared her thoughts on his decision.
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"I’m not saying I agree with it. But I do understand," the Sex Education star told GQ.
"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."
Kirke then went on to suggest that actors asking for fewer sex scenes would probably 'go further' in the future.
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"That’s not to say I will partake in that view of things,” she noted. "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 went on to admit: "I have had moments that weren't totally kosher between me and another actor. I think there is room for that mistake to be made. This society says there is not."
Jemima is no stranger to the odd sex scene, having filmed a few when she played Jessa in Lena Dunham's hit comedy series Girls from 2012 to 2017.
That being said, she did notice that approaching sex scenes in the film and TV landscape back then was 'very different' to how it works after the #MeToo movement.
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"On Girls, we thought we were doing a different version of feminism," she explained.
"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."