Domino Kirke-Badgley has hit back at fans who continue to blame her for Penn Badgley's decision to limit intimate scenes, insisting the choice was his own and was made partly with his mental health and career in mind.
The actor's wife addressed the speculation on 28 September, revealing that she is still receiving direct messages about a decision Badgley first discussed publicly in 2023. While some fans connected his comments about fidelity and marriage to Kirke-Badgley, she has now firmly rejected the idea that she told him to stop filming sex scenes.
Her message to those who continue to contact her was blunt: 'Get over it.'
Domino Kirke-Badgley Says the Decision Was Penn's
Kirke-Badgley, 42, discussed the issue in an Instagram video, explaining that she continues to receive messages about what happened around three years ago.
'Those of you who still DM me about my husband deciding to do this for himself and his mental health, like get over it,' she said.
She stressed that Badgley, 39, made the decision himself and said she was proud of him for establishing a boundary around intimate scenes.
'He didn't want to do any of that, which was really major in his industry,' she said, adding that audiences had become accustomed to seeing her husband play romantic characters.
The comments appear aimed at correcting a long-running assumption among some fans that Kirke-Badgley was responsible for the change.
What Penn Badgley Actually Said in 2023
Badgley first discussed his decision on his podcast Podcrushed in February 2023, when he revealed that he had asked You creator Sera Gamble whether he could stop doing intimate scenes. His reasoning was not simply about his marriage. He also questioned whether he wanted to continue down a career path where he would repeatedly be expected to play romantic leads.
'Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I'm always [the] romantic lead?' he asked at the time.
Badgley also mentioned his marriage when explaining his position, saying that 'fidelity in every relationship, especially in a marriage, is important to me'. He married Kirke-Badgley in February 2017.
Those remarks fuelled speculation that his wife had influenced the decision. However, Badgley later said his comments had been 'blown out of proportion' during an interview with GQ, explaining that he was also talking about the wider culture surrounding intimate scenes and Hollywood's history of exploitation and abuse.
Kirke-Badgley Says Mental Health Was a Factor
In her latest post, Kirke-Badgley placed particular emphasis on Badgley's mental health.
She pointed out that he had been working in entertainment since he was 12 and described his decision as a long-overdue opportunity to take greater control over his career.
'After working in the industry since he was just 12 years old, believe me, it was time,' she wrote.
Kirke-Badgley also criticised the way actors can be treated within the entertainment industry, writing that actors are sometimes described as 'puppets' behind their backs.
Her comments suggested that Badgley's decision was about more than avoiding particular scenes. She framed it as part of him establishing personal boundaries after years in an industry where expectations can become closely tied to an actor's public image.
She also pushed back against the idea that the decision damaged his career, writing: 'He hasn't lost fans, and he's still getting hired!'
She Says She Was Proud of Him
Rather than presenting Badgley's decision as a rule imposed within their marriage, Kirke-Badgley described herself as supportive of his choice.
She said she was 'super happy' and 'very proud' of him because she understood how significant the decision was for someone working in an industry where intimate scenes can be an expected part of certain roles.
Kirke-Badgley also described the idea as 'relational hygiene', linking it to her own work as a professional doula and her approach to supporting people in making decisions about themselves and their careers.
That distinction is important because Badgley's original comments about fidelity became closely associated with his marriage, even though he also spoke about his career ambitions and concerns surrounding intimate scenes.
His Sex-Scene Rule Was Not Permanent
There is also a significant twist to the story. Badgley's decision to limit intimate scenes did not become a permanent ban.
By the fifth and final season of You, released in 2025, the actor was filming intimate material again. Badgley explained that the creative demands of the final season meant he had to reconsider the boundary he had previously established.
He said his preference was still to keep such scenes to a minimum, but accepted that they could be necessary if they were important to the story.
That later development makes Kirke-Badgley's latest comments even more specific. She is not claiming that Badgley permanently rejected sex scenes. Instead, she is defending his original decision and rejecting the idea that she was the person behind it.
For now, her message to the fans who continue to contact her is clear: the decision was Penn's, and she wants the speculation about her involvement to stop.
