Jameela Jamil revealed that she turned down auditioning for Netflix’s You because she didn’t want to appear in any sex scenes.
During a recent episode of the Podcrushed podcast, hosted by You leading man Penn Badgley, the Good Place star got candid about why she now regrets not going through with the audition.
“I don’t do sex scenes. In fact, I was supposed to audition for the most recent season of your show,” Jameela told Penn, referring to the fourth season of the series, which debuted in February.
The British actor explained that when she found out her “character was supposed to be quite sexy,” she “pulled out of the audition because I am so shy about anything sexy that I can’t”.
She also shared that she would have followed through with the audition had she known that it was possible to enforce a “boundary” about the intimate scenes.
“And then you fucking came out and were like, ‘Yeah, I’m not doing sex scenes anymore’,” Jameela recalled, nodding to Penn’s viral negotiation with Sera Gamble, the creator of the series, for fewer sex scenes.
She added: “And I was like, ‘I didn’t even know that was a boundary that we could draw.’ But then I was like, I should have gone and done the fucking show.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law star also revealed that she has to “fast forward” when she watches on-screen sex scenes, even when she’s alone.
“I can’t even watch sex scenes in films... Even on my own, I have to fast forward through sex scenes because I’ve become so shy about watching other people.”
Penn first shared that he asked the showrunner if he could tone down the amount of “intimacy scenes” due to his marriage to singer Domino Kirke during a previous episode of Podcrushed in February.
“Fidelity in every relationship, especially my marriage, is important to me,” the 36-year-old explained at the time. “It just got to a point where I don’t want to do that.”
In March, Penn teased that the Netflix thriller series You, which is based on author Caroline Kepnes’ books, may return for a final season.
Netflix hasn’t announced any plans to renew the murder drama yet.