Neal McDonough Clarifies Claims Hollywood ‘Turned’ on Him for Refusing to Kiss on Screen

UPDATE 8/4/2025, 8:30AM: Neal McDonough clarified his recent claims that Hollywood “turned” on him for refusing to kiss a woman on screen.

The actor and his wife, Ruvé McDonough, addressed how grateful they felt for his experience in Hollywood during a joint interview.

“The right people found Neal and put him in the right places,” Ruvé told TMZ. “We want to say thank you, Hollywood. We want to continue doing incredible films with Neal, giving the right messages. We don’t want to say Hollywood turned — [it] guided us to where we are is what Hollywood did. And we say thank you, Hollywood.”

Ruvé said she and Neal were “blessed,” adding, “Everything that’s going on, talking about how Hollywood dissed Neal … no, everything that has happened has brought us closer to where we are now. Every stepping stone has been the right stone. Some fumbles, some big leaps, whatever it is. Here we are 25 years later, five kids and so blessed.”

Neal, for his part, confirmed they felt “so fortunate.”

“Everybody that talks about all that stuff that happened all those years ago and if it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be here,” he noted. “Those are stepping stones.”

Original story:

Desperate Housewives and Suits alum Neal McDonough claims Hollywood “turned” on him for refusing to kiss a woman on screen.

McDonough, 59, has previously said he refuses to kiss other women or film sex scenes out of respect for his wife, Ruvé Robertson, with whom he has five children, and because of his religious beliefs.

“I’d always had in my contracts that I wouldn’t kiss another woman on screen,” the actor said on the Wednesday, July 30, episode of the “Nothing Left Unsaid” podcast, a preview of which was published by TMZ on Tuesday, July 29.

He continued, “My wife didn’t have any problem with it. It was me, really, who had a problem with it. … When I wouldn’t do it and they couldn’t understand it, Hollywood just completely turned on me and they wouldn’t let me be part of the show anymore.” (McDonough did not specify the show he was part of or when this incident took place.)

“And for two years, I couldn’t get a job and I lost everything you could possibly imagine,” the actor said. “Not just houses, material things, but your swagger, your cool, who you are, your identity. My identity was an actor, and a really good one, and once you don’t have that identity, you’re kind of in a tailspin. And I was in a big, ugly tailspin for a couple of years.”

Over the years, McDonough has appeared in HBO’s acclaimed Band of Brothers, Arrow, Yellowstone and more. He famously played Edie Britt’s (Nicollette Sheridan) mysterious new husband on season 5 of Desperate Housewives.

In 2019, McDonough claimed he was fired from ABC drama Scoundrels in 2010 for refusing to film sex scenes with a costar.

“I was [surprised], and it was a horrible situation for me. After that, I couldn’t get a job because everybody thought I was this religious zealot,” he told Closer Weekly at the time. “I am very religious. I put God and family first, and me second. That’s what I live by. It was hard for a few years. Then [Band of Brothers producer] Graham Yost called me and said, ‘Hey, I want you to be the bad guy on Justified.’ I knew that was my shot back at the title.”

McDonough recently opened up to Us Weekly about how he dropped 32 pounds for his latest roles in the movies Skillhouse and The Last Rodeo.

“My weight was highest when I was doing Captain America 10 years ago at about 225 pounds,” the actor told Us. “But then after I gave up alcohol several years ago, I was generally walking around 200-210 [pounds] and couldn’t drop it. Finally, with high intensity workouts, long jogs, changing my diet and starting with Flip My Life, the last part I truly believe being the most important, I got down to 178 for the [Skillhouse] film.”