Amanda Seyfried has turned down a major television role because the project demanded extensive sex scenes, declaring she is no longer willing to perform intimate on-camera work.
The actress, 40, made the disclosure during a panel conversation with Alec Baldwin at the Hamptons International Film Festival in East Hampton, New York, on Oct. 4. She explained that the unnamed show would have required her to “have sex all the time because of the sex,” a prospect she found unacceptable at this stage of her life and career.
“I don’t wanna do it. I’m uncomfortable with it. I’m not into it right now,” she said at the event, per People.
Seyfried told Baldwin that intimate scenes once posed little concern for her. “It was like, ‘I get to make out with a hot person today … And they’re paying me,'” she recalled of her earlier attitude.
That perspective has shifted dramatically with motherhood. Seyfried shares daughter Nina, 9, and son Thomas, 6, with estranged husband Thomas Sadoski, and she emphasized that her children now notice her professional decisions. “I have kids now who are paying attention to what I do,” she said during the panel.
The “Mamma Mia!” star left open the possibility that her stance could evolve, suggesting that “maybe” she would feel differently about such material at some future point. For the present, however, she was unequivocal: “I don’t wanna deal with being naked with a stranger.”
Age has also influenced her calculus. “As I get older, it gets weirder,” she explained. “We have to be romantic with people that we’re not romantic with.”
Seyfried’s professional schedule has remained full despite her selectivity. She appeared in two 2024 films, “The Testament of Ann Lee” and “The Housemaid,” and starred in Peacock’s television series “Long Bright River.”
The panel discussion came shortly after she and Sadoski, 48, publicly confirmed their separation last month following nine years of marriage. The pair issued a joint statement emphasizing that the split had been underway for some time and suited their family structure.
“We have been separated for a while, and it’s proven to be the right move for us and our family unit. We’ve got each other forever — and it’s GOOD,” they wrote.
Seyfried and Sadoski first crossed paths in 2015 while co-starring in the off-Broadway play “The Way We Get By.” They later appeared together in the 2017 film “The Last Word” and married shortly before welcoming their two children.
The actress has previously spoken about the strain of balancing her career with parenting responsibilities. In November 2025, she said that managing both domains had become increasingly demanding as her workload intensified.
“This is the most I’ve ever worked with two kids, and I’ve never had two movies come out at the same time,” she said then. “I’m a little bit bananas right now.”
Her decision to reject the sex scene-heavy series reflects a broader pattern of actors reassessing their boundaries around intimate onscreen content, particularly as conversations about workplace conditions in entertainment have evolved.
Seyfried’s recent filmography demonstrates her continued marketability without such material, with dramatic and thriller roles replacing the romantic and intimate parts that characterized earlier chapters of her career.
Seyfried is scheduled to appear next at the Middleburg Film Festival in Virginia.