Yellowstone actor Neal McDonough said he was essentially blacklisted from Hollywood because he refuses to kiss other actors on screen.
McDonough reflected on the downward spiral he went through on the Nothing Left Unsaid podcast Wednesday.
“For two years, I couldn’t get a job and I lost everything you could possibly imagine,” he said. “Not just houses and material things, but your swagger, your cool, who you are, your identity—everything. My identity was an actor, and a really good one. And once you don’t have that identity, you’re kind of lost in a tailspin.” He turned to alcohol at the time, he said, and developed “a big drinking problem.”
McDonough, a devout Catholic, played Malcolm Beck on Season 2 Yellowstone and also starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in the second season of Tulsa King. He was already an established character actor, however, having worked since 1990. After a series of guest spots on TV shows like JAG, Murphy Brown, and NYPD Blue, McDonough landed larger roles in HBO’s Band of Brothers and the USA drama Boomtown. His film roles include Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report and Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers.
McDonough married his now wife Ruvé Robertson in 2003, after which he refused to do something most actors are required to do.
“I’d always had in my contracts I wouldn’t kiss another woman on-screen,” he said on the podcast.
“My wife didn’t have any problem with it. It was me, really, who had a problem with it. When I couldn’t do it, and they couldn’t understand it, Hollywood just completely turned on me. They wouldn’t let me be part of the show anymore.” McDonough has even been replaced in the middle of a project for his stance.
In 2010, he was replaced by another actor in his role on ABC’s Scoundrels three days into filming, for refusing to do romantic scenes with his female co-star. “It has cost him jobs, but the man is sticking to his principles,” a source told Deadline at the time.
McDonough has since found some refuge in faith-based entertainment. He stars in Angel Studios’ film The Last Rodeo, currently in theaters, about a bull rider competing for money to fund his son’s tumor operation.
