Make Page Six a Preferred Source Penn Badgley’s wife, Domino Kirke, denied accusations that she made the actor stop filming sex scenes.
“I continue to get DMs about this thing that happened about three years ago, when my husband decided that he didn’t want to do intimacy scenes anymore,” she began in a Monday Instagram video.
“Meaning, he didn’t want to have sex. He didn’t want to kiss. He didn’t want to do any of that, which was really major in his industry because that’s the thing they want you to do the most.”
She noted that because of the characters Badgley has played over the years, fans have come to “expect” him to have intimate scenes in the projects he does.
“I want to say, to those of you who still DM me about my husband deciding to do this for himself and his mental health, get over it.”
Kirke, 42, insisted that the “You” actor made the decision as “relational hygiene” and that it inspired her to set more boundaries in her own career.
“When he decided he didn’t want to do this anymore, I was super happy for him, very proud of him,” she gushed.
“Because I understood how major it was. It’s just relational hygiene and I strive to practice this in my career as a doula,” she said, noting that she’s “not just Penn Badgley’s wife.”
“I also do things like support people in making these kinds of decisions for themselves and their careers.”
Badgley made headlines in 2023 when he stated he didn’t want to participate in intimate scenes anymore and cited his relationship with Kirke as one of the reasons why.
“If you have a partner, and you want to be with your partner, and you have to [be intimate] with another person, frankly for me, it’s just not my desire,” he shared on “Andy Cohen Live,” in February 2023.
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Badgley also noted that filming sex scenes “involves all kinds of objectification.”
The 38-year-old did have some exceptions to this rule, however, and later clarified that it was more of his preference not to and not a definite no.
He did, notably, engage in several intimate scenes during the fifth and final season of his Netflix series, which premiered in April 2025.
“I had to throw that out the window,” Badgley admitted in an interview with People last year.
“And as I always said, I said, my desire is that least as possible, but if it’s necessary, that’s the show we all sign up to make. So, let’s make sure it’s vital, let’s make sure it’s important, it’s deliberate. And we did.”
Kirke and Badgley started dating in 2014, and tied the knot in February 2017 at a New York courthouse.
The couple are parents to a 6-year-old son, whom they welcomed in August 2020, and also welcomed twin boys in September 2025. They have kept the names of their children private.
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