Having to kiss your coworker on screen is one of the weirdest parts of being an actor. Is there anything more mortifying than having to get kissed while you’re interviewing for a job and then having it be filmed – especially if it’s your first kiss? Some actors are vocal about hating to kiss their co-stars, and some celebs like Zendaya even refused to have their first kiss on camera. Here are the top stars who were unable to escape having their first kisses on camera — some with much older co-stars!
1. Mila Kunis had her first kiss on-screen…with her future hubby
On “That ’70s Show,” Kutcher didn’t see Kunis as a potential girlfriend since she was just 14 and he was 19. He was weirded out by the scene they were meant to kiss, but Kunis apparently had a huge crush on Kutcher. While the two had a sibling-like relationship after that, they ultimately ended up together, starting a relationship in 2012. They’re now married with two kids.
2. Keke Palmer snogs Corbin Bleu
In the 2007 Disney Channel original movie “Jump In!”, Keke shares a kiss with Corbin, which she admitted led to some existential questions for her at the young age of 12. She recalled to Access that she was forced to redo the scene almost two dozen times, and it made her self-conscious, causing her to reflect on whether her first kiss should be on camera and leading to fear and anxiety. After getting over that hurdle, she felt good about the fact that her first kiss was with a cool, good-looking guy!
3. A tragic kiss from a star in a tragic movie
At 11 years old, actor Macaulay Culkin had his first kiss onscreen for the 1991 movie “My Girl,” and he wasn’t a fan. However, it wasn’t that he was freaked out by having a film crew around; it was the number of takes. He said: “Yeeeccchhhk. It was like fifteen takes. All angles. Yeeecchhhkkk.” The two won “Best Kiss” at the 1992 MTV Movie Awards – imagine getting an award for having your first kiss!
4. Selena Gomez kissed her crush’s doppelganger
The House of Mouse was responsible for Selena Gomez’s first kiss, which she experienced on “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody”. On a talk show, she later admitted that she thought she might end up with the show’s star, Cole Sprouse, so it must have been surreal when she had her first kiss with his twin brother, Dylan. She revealed that she leaned in for the kiss too early with her eyes closed, which made her miss half his lip and made it awkward.
5. “Night Moves” co-stars who all had first kisses onscreen
“Night Moves” co-stars, actors Jesse Eisenberg, Alia Shawkat, and Dakota Fanning all had first kisses onscreen. Eisenberg was in the 2002 movie “Roger Dodger” with bombshell Jennifer Beals, and Shawkat was with romantic interest (and possible cousin) Michael Cera. Shawkat admitted that Cera was scared of her father, who was intimidatingly watching from the sidelines. Fanning had hers when she played a younger version of Reese Witherspoon’s character in “Sweet Home Alabama” and filmed a kissing scene at just seven years old.
6. “Victorious” stars who had their first smooches onscreen
Jamie Lynn Spears witnessed Chase Matthews and Rebecca making out on “Zoey 101,” and it was actually Monet’s first-ever kiss. She confessed to TeenNick, “This is so embarrassing. My first four kisses were all on TV.” She didn’t comment on whether the process got easier after the first kiss, but did mention how nerve-wracking it was, saying she waited until she was 18 to have her first real kiss. Her co-star Victoria Justice also had her first kiss onscreen, but it was for “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” with Cole Sprouse.
7. Two actors from “Full House”
Candace Cameron Bure, who played D.J. Tanner, had her first onscreen kiss during a game of spin the bottle. Both Bure and her character were reluctant, but that the incident helped her separate her professional life and personal life from that moment on. Her co-star, Jodie Sweetin, also had her first kiss on the “Full House” set and, in her memoir, said she thought people would make fun of her. She compared the experience to “pecking my grandmother.”
8. First kisses on “Stranger Things” actors
Millie Bobbie Brown and Finn Wolfhard downed two packs of Tic Tacs, according to Brown, and it was even more awkward since the whole crew was there, along with Brown’s dad. They also had to deal with being teased by castmates. Sadie Slink and Caleb McLaughlin also shared their first on-screen kiss, but it was unscripted, added spontaneously by the show’s creators as a mean prank for a school dance scene. A pretty weird way to joke with an underage actor, to be honest…
9. Kirsten Dunst, who hated her kiss with Brad Pitt
As far as first kisses with an older co-star go, this is an awkward one. For the 1994 movie “Interview with the Vampire,” she had to kiss him at just 11 years old. While Pitt was the subject of many crushes, the age difference made this scene creepy, even though it was just a little peck. Pitt said to Dunst, “ ‘How do you think I feel? I have to kiss a little girl.’ It was awful!”
10. First kisses for iCarly stars
Both Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy had their first kisses on this famous Nickelodeon show. Cosgrove pecked James Maslow in a problematic episode where he was unconscious in the hospital and couldn’t give consent, and to make it worse, she kissed him to win a contest with her friend. McCurdy said she was grossed out by the idea of a kiss, saying in her memoir, “Lips feel nasty. They’re like little gross fleshy piles of flesh.” She also added the stress of being yelled at, with directions that made it way worse.