Neal McDonough isn’t your typical Hollywood actor. While many stars embrace on-screen romance, McDonough has drawn a firm line: no kissing scenes, ever. His lips, he says, belong solely to his wife, Ruve Robertson—and that’s a promise he won’t break, no matter the role.
This unwavering stance has shaped his career in unexpected ways. In 2010, he was let go from the TV series Scoundrels after refusing to film love scenes with Virginia Madsen. The fallout was harsh—he lost a million-dollar paycheck and faced industry backlash. “People thought I was extreme,” he shared. “But I don’t regret it. My faith and my family come first.”
Yet, McDonough has proven that success in Hollywood doesn’t require compromise. When he joined Desperate Housewives, showrunner Marc Cherry creatively worked around his no-kissing rule, crafting a storyline that kept the drama intact without physical intimacy. “It forced me to write smarter,” Cherry admitted.
Beyond his career, McDonough’s love story with Ruve is the stuff of Hollywood dreams. They met by chance on a London street in 2001, and he knew immediately she was the one. Today, they’ve been married for over two decades and are raising five children together.
McDonough’s journey shows that staying true to personal values doesn’t have to mean sacrificing success. Whether playing villains in Justified or heroes in Band of Brothers, he’s carved out a respected career—on his own terms.
