Intimate scenes may look effortless on screen, but filming them is often far less spontaneous than audiences realize.
From carefully choreographed movements and modesty garments to props and strategic camera angles, Hollywood productions rely on plenty of behind-the-scenes techniques to create the illusion of passion.
Then there is the matter of keeping things safe and professional for all the cast and crew involved.
Recently, a months-old confession from Hollywood actress Sarah Shahi about how these scenes are actually filmed resurfaced, leaving the viewers questioning whether they can ever watch love scenes the same way again.
“Makes you rethink how many ‘intimate’ moments on set are actually just physics tricks,” one person commented.
Sarah Shahi revealed that a “deflated yoga ball” is often used to block out unwanted contact while filming intimate scenes
Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe
Sarah Shahi, 46, rose to fame with TV shows such as Alias, The L Word, and Teachers, and currently stars on Dan Fogelman’s Emmy-nominated show Paradise.
In February, she appeared on the Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe podcast to discuss her book Life is Lifey and her portrayal of Billie Connelly on Stacy Rukeyser’s risqué drama, Sex/Life.
At one point during the podcast episode, Bristowe asked Shahi if she would “disassociate” while filming the racy scenes.
Shahi answered that sometimes there is liquor involved, “just to block out the nerves” as much as possible.
Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe
“If I don’t find them attractive, I just try to put another face on them,” she offered.
She then described a scene she filmed with Mike Vogel, who plays Billie’s husband, Cooper Connelly, in which a prop was used tactically to maintain modesty.
“The scenes in which he had me bent over the counter… you have a deflated yoga ball, a small little yoga disk ball thing, and you put it here,” she gestured down the back of her pants.
“It lies between the two of you. So when he’s doing the action, he’s actually bumping up against the yoga ball, and I’m feeling the impact of the yoga ball, and not him.”
“It’s genius, right? It actually allows for more freedom, because you’re not feeling things you don’t want to feel,” she continued.
“It’s the same when you’re straddling somebody,” Shahi added.
“Sometimes, depending on where the camera is, you can’t have the yoga ball present. But it allows you the safety of not accidentally rubbing on something you didn’t mean to rub on.”
“It allows you to get lost in it and feel safe at the same time,” she concluded.
Sarah Shahi was trolled about dating her co-star, with whom she later broke up because of her kids
Chad Salvador/Variety via Getty Images
Many viewers were taken aback to learn that the romantic or passionate love scenes they see onscreen were filmed in such an “insane” manner after Shahi’s comments resurfaced in September.
“Learning that intense, passionate TV s*x scenes are actually just two actors aggressively bouncing off a deflated yoga ball completely ruins the magic,” one person said.
“All this while, the actor is beating his b**er into some rubber ball,” said another disappointed user.
A third wrote, “A yoga ball being the secret safety barrier is wild.”
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SiriusXM
“Think you felt something or at least wanted to. Otherwise, why would she leave her husband for a co-star then?” one user accused.
This comment refers to Sarah Shahi divorcing her husband of 11 years, Steve Howey, months before announcing a relationship with Sex/Life co-star Adam Demos in 2021.
On the show, Demos played Brad Simon, Billie’s ex-boyfriend, and the two of them share quite a few steamy scenes as well.
Shahi called Demos her “soulmate” in an Instagram post in May 2021, adding, “I do know I found my forever. I do know I’ve never loved deeper, harder, more ferociously.”
However, the couple broke up sometime before February 2026 after dating for five years, and the reason was a disagreement over her three kids with Howey: William, 16, and twins Violet and Knox, 10.
“I do think when you have kids, it’s hard to build a life when you have children unless the person truly, truly, truly wants that as well,” Shahi said on Let’s Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari.
“I show up as a parent in a very specific way,” she explained. “I parent the way I was parented. For my mother, we grew up in Texas—single mom of three kids. There were no boundaries.”
“We could walk into our mom’s bedroom at any time, and we walked into the bathroom at any time. I think that can be a little challenging for somebody who may not be used to having kids.”
Dakota Johnson and Olivia Wilde are among those who have previously opened up about filming love scenes
Noam Galai/Getty Images for Kering Foundation
Sarah Shahi is not the only actor to have divulged the secret of filming intimate scenes.
Dakota Johnson, who famously filmed many difficult explicit scenes with Jaime Dornan for the Fifty Shades trilogy, told Marie Claire in 2018 that she wore “strapless thongs” glued to her body.
When Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut with the 2019 film Booksmart, she vowed to use her experience in the film industry to change how things were done and make it safer and more efficient for everyone.
One lesson she chose to impart was to teach actresses how to make their voices heard about intimate scenes.
“I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll finally teach everyone what a closed set means.’ And I said to our actresses who are doing this intimate scene, ‘When you’re on your next film set, I want you to demand what I’m showing you today,’” she said, according to Yahoo.
In 2021, as the internet could not stop talking about her Bridgerton love scenes with Regé-Jean Page, Phoebe Dynevor told Glamour, “We did the intimate scenes like stunts. We blocked them out, so you have yoga balls in between you and all sorts of things that never make you feel exposed in any way. You always feel safe.”
She added that the show’s intimacy coach, Lizzy Talbot, made her feel protected on set.
“There are certain acts where a half-inflated netball can allow for movement without having to connect physically,” Dynevor’s co-star Jonathan Bailey, who plays her brother but has his own intimate scenes with Sabrina Bartlett and Simone Ashley, told Radio Times.
“This is still a bit silly,” one user said about Sarah Shahi’s admission
