Politics
Intimacy Coordinator Reveals What Happens When An Actor Becomes Aroused While Filming Sex Scenes
When filmed right, a sex scene can be incredibly steamy and really enhance the viewing experience, especially if you’re already heavily invested in the characters.
For example, is there anything better in a romcom than the will-they-won’t-they couple finally coming to their senses and racing to the bedroom for a passionate evening in the sheets? I think not.
In fact, these scenes can be so believable that it’s hard to believe that the actors aren’t actually going at it. How do you stay un-aroused while filming these scenes? How do you go back to talking normally to the co-star once the scene is complete?
Well, there’s a lot to it.
How do actors avoid getting turned on when filming sex scenes?
While these scenes are hot as hell to us, the behind-the-scenes filming is… not so much. According to Backstage, there are a number of measures in place to ensure the safety and comfort of the actors, as well as choreography.
Basically, the scenes may SEEM very real to us but there is so much that goes into making them happen that they’re anything but.
Before the scene is even staged, the parties involved in a sex scene will meet with an intimacy coordinator one-on-one to ensure that the actor feels safe in the scene, discuss any boundaries and any other concerns that they may have.
From there, the intimacy coordinator works with a choreographer to discuss what can and cannot happen in the scene, which areas of the body the actors are comfortable with displaying and being touched and the boundaries the actors have when it comes to filming a sex scene.
Then there are the modesty garments. Backstage explains: “Modesty garments are coverings or full-body makeup can shield certain body parts from the camera and prevent genital-on-genital contact, which is strictly prohibited on union sets. ”
Shibues and hibues—strapless thongs—are a popular form of modesty patch. These stick directly to the body and give the illusion of nudity without actually revealing an actor’s genitals. While the adhesive is pretty strong, these can be removed with baby oil.
Speaking to Backstage, Alicia Rodis, an intimacy coordinator said that she keeps these in a variety of hues on set, adding: “We take a shibue, open it up, and put a silicone guard underneath so everyone becomes like a Barbie doll.”
Though people with penises may opt to wear a “sock”, which is a drawstring skin-coloured pouch that holds the penis and testicles, instead. For those with breasts, they can wear pasties over their nipples.
What happens if an actor gets aroused during a sex scene?
With all of these measures in place, it’s hard to imagine getting aroused but according to David Thackeray, an intimacy coordinator for studios like Netflix, Warner Bros, Apple TV, BBC, and HBO, it’s perfectly normal.
Speaking to Business Insider, Thackery said that during the filming of sex scenes, actors “are going through the physical and the mind, so yeah, it happens.”
When it does happen, the production immediately pauses. Thackery said: “We just make it really clear that’s normal and that the worst thing you can do is carry on, so we call that a time-out. Give them five minutes then I come in and check in … Then we come back into it when they’re ready.”
Thackery added that actors are warned that this can happen beforehand and intimacy coordinators work hard to ensure the entire team knows that this is normal, saying: “The worst thing we can do is gawk or make it a massive deal. I will say for the crew as well, making sure they’re aware of what scene is being shot, what nudity is going to be seen. You don’t want them to be surprised.”
Thackery also added that the crew can also call a time-out during the filming of these scenes.
Politics
Suki Waterhouse Admits She’s Never Seen Twilight
Still hate Twilight? Well, Robert Pattinson, who played co-lead Edward in the late ’00s and early ’10s flicks, reckons you need to get your priorities straight.
Last year, the The Odyssey actor said he still heard people talking about how the Stephanie Meyer series “ruined” the vampire genre – to which he replied, “Are you still stuck on that shit? How can you be sad about something that happened almost 20 years ago? It’s crazy.”
Since then, he’s compared his role in Nolan’s blockbuster to Twilight. Robert said his part as Antinous, a would-be suitor for Anne Hathaway’s Penelope, was “kind of like Jacob in Twilight… Penelope just can’t make her mind up between the two guys. And I’m just trying to, like, help her make a decision. It’s like, ‘It’s fine. [Odysseus is] dead, get over it.’”
But it seems that reference would be lost on his wife, musician Suki Waterhouse.
In a recent episode of the podcast In Your Dreams with Owen Thiele, Suki was asked whether she was Team Edward or Team Jacob (Twilight fans split themselves into corresponding camps depending on which of protagonist Bella’s suitors they preferred: Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, or Jacob, portrayed by Taylor Lautner).
Suki, however, admitted she’d never seen any of the five installments in the on-screen Twilight saga.
“I haven’t. I will one day, but obviously I’m Team Edward,” she said after struggling to work out whether her husband played Jacob or Edward.
“I can’t get that wrong.”
She added that she’s not against watching the movies one day, ideally with expert commentary from Robert; “I’m not just going to sit and watch the movie by myself!”
Still, Suki previously shared that both she and her daughter have been enjoying a behind-the-scenes preview of another of Robert’s movies, the upcoming The Batman: Part II.
Explaining that her husband often video calls in full Batman regalia, she said their child has taken to giving him a nickname: “She calls him ‘Daddy Batman’ now because he’s always dressed up like that now for the next seven months whenever he’s on FaceTime”.
You can watch the full episode of In Your Dreams With Owen Thiele here.
Politics
Nadia Sawalha To Share Full Story Behind Loose Women Absence
Nadia Sawalha, who’s been a member of the Loose Women panel on and off since 1999, hasn’t been seen on the ITV show since April of this year.
Her upload’s caption reads: “Why haven’t I seen you on Loose Women for ages? Can anyone guess? Will tell you if you guessed right on Wednesday here 6pm.”
This paragraph began and ended with a watermelon emoji, a symbol some use online to show solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Her post also ended with the hashtag #solidarityrocks, along with a dove emoji – which can refer to peace or as a way of saying “rest in peace” – and a heart.
In the comments of the post, a site user asked: “Does this mean they won’t have you back?”
To this, the 61-year-old responded: “I will be telling the whole story. It’s pretty unbelievable.”
HuffPost UK has reached out to ITV and Nadia Sawalha’s agent for comment.
Politics
Bear Grylls Defends Helping Baptise Russell Brand
Adventurer Bear Grylls has defended his controversial involvement with the baptism of comedian Russell Brand.
Bear helped to baptise the actor in 2024, months after allegations of historic sexual misconduct against Brand were made public in 2023 as part of a joint investigation between The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.
Brand denied the charges at the time and has since pleaded not guilty to a subsequent investigation and charges of rape and sexual assault.
He will face trial this autumn.
At the time, Brand said his baptism as part of a ceremony in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire helped him to “leave the past behind”.
He also shared an X post in May 2024 that read “Me, Bear Grylls, The River Thames and of course, The Holy Spirit.”
Bear has previously stood by his participation, telling The Times in 2025, “I try and live in a way that I never judge and I always try and love. And that principle doesn’t just apply to perfect people with perfect lives”.
In 2024, he told the Daily Mail: “Faith and spiritual moments in our lives are really personal, but it is a privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness and strength from above.
“Friendships when we go through tough times are worth so much.”
Speaking to Metro recently, Bear was asked whether his feelings about the baptism had changed over the years, especially given Brand’s recent admission that he slept with a 16-year-old when he was 30.
The Celebrity Bear Hunt star said: “I think all our faith changes and evolves, and I’d also say I have many doubts as well. I really struggle with so much of it.
“But I don’t know, I think at heart, my faith says we’re connected together and we need each other, and not to judge people and to love people.”
He added that the phrase “What would Christ do?” has remained a mantra throughout his personal and professional life.
“I really try and keep that as that compass in my life. I don’t know. It’s like I say, I’m not super religious, but I do try and just start the day as a discipline on my knees and to say sorry, and to say thank you, and then to say help for the day ahead, and then I crack on with it,” he added.
Speaking on The Megyn Kelly Show in April 2026, Brand said of his previous sexual behaviour: “Consensual sex, actually, with a variety of people when there is a strong power differential, because there is when you’re a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation.
“I think it is exploitative. I recognize that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any, I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”
Politics
The Father: Olivia Colman’s Highest-Rated Film Of All Time
Olivia Colman’s new film Wicker is set to hit the big screen in October of this year. But if you can’t wait that long to see the Broadchurch star, it might be time to give her highest-rated movie of all time a watch.
The Father, a 2020 psychological drama, has gotten the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of any film Colman has been attached to – it’s earned an impressive 98% on the review aggregation site.
(Her lowest-rated title, if you’re interested, is 2014’s Pudsey The Dog: The Movie with an actually-quite-impressive 0%).
Based on Florian Zeller’s stage play Le Père, The Father follows Anthony (played by Anthony Hopkins), who refuses help from his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) as he ages.
Anthony’s dementia makes the retired engineer cranky and unpredictable as he wrestles with his future; Anne prepares to go abroad with a new love.
Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell also appear in the movie, which swept up six Oscar nominations for the 2021 Academy Awards.
Anthony Hopkins won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, making him the oldest winner in a competitive acting category, aged 83.
Hopkins wasn’t there to collect the award himself, however. Instead, host Joaquin Phoenix accepted the Oscar on the actor’s behalf in a night that saw Best Actor placed at the end of the ceremony’s telecast, breaking with decades of tradition.
The Guardian described The Father as “superb” and “unbearably heartbreaking,” giving the film five stars.
Roger Ebert’s site dubbed it “some of the absolute best work of Hopkins’ lengthy and storied career”.
And Variety said, “Hopkins is flat-out stunning.”
Meanwhile on Reddit’s r/movies, site user u/pardis said The Father is “one of the best movies I’ve ever seen,” adding it left them and their family “gobsmacked”.
The fan cited its “Exceptional script, direction, concept, cast, production, everything. Can’t fault it for anything. Wall to wall perfection.”
The Father is available to rent or buy on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and Sky Store.
Politics
The August Gardening Jobs To Do As Summer Winds Down
We are now around halfway through this scorcher of a summer and what a tough summer it has been for us gardeners with the record-breaking heatwaves and extended periods of dry weather, leading to hosepipe bans
If you’re one of the fortunate gardeners that has managed to keep their garden flourishing during this time, it’s time to start deadheading foliage and planning for next year’s flowering season.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advises: “August is usually one of the hottest months of the year, making watering essential. Try to use grey water wherever possible, especially as water butts may be running low if it has been a dry summer. August is traditionally holiday time, so you might need to enlist the help of friends and family to look after the garden while you are away.”
The fruit and vegetables to sow and harvest this August
The gardening experts at Greenhouse Stores say: “August is the month of abundance in UK gardens. Harvest tomatoes, courgettes, runner beans and soft fruit daily to keep plants productive.
“Sow winter salad crops now for autumn and winter cropping: winter lettuce, spinach, pak choi and rocket. Take semi-ripe cuttings of lavender, rosemary and box hedging. Order greenhouse heaters now because they sell out by October every year.”
If you’re falling a little behind on gardening or haven’t bought seeds in time, August is a great time to get back into the habit of gardening and reconnect with your green-fingered side. The experts at GrowVeg advise: “Summer is a great time to be sowing hardier leafy herbs like coriander and parsley, which are less likely to bolt after midsummer.
“If you live somewhere with very mild winters you may also be able to sow other last-minute crops like early or fast-maturing varieties of cucumber, beans and courgettes.”
The flowers to sow and harvest this August
The RHS says: “Towards the end of August sow hardy annuals directly into borders. They will overwinter and flower next summer.”
The society also recommends cutting back the foliage and stems of herbaceous plants that have already died as well as deadheading and watering plants in hanging baskets to make them last through to autumn.
As for what we should be planting this month, Dobies says: “In August the warm ground is perfect for sowing feverfew, field cornflower, calendula, myosotis, Siberian wallflower, cyclamen hederifolium and potentilla.
“You can also start off some pot plant seeds indoors. Why not try a cactus, cyclamen, or coleus?”
Politics
How To Stop Feeling Uncertain About Your Partner
According to Verywell Mind: “Attachment styles in relationships describe how people seek closeness, respond to rejection, and interact in romantic relationships in adulthood.
“The four primary attachment styles are secure (comfortable with intimacy), ambivalent (desire closeness but fear abandonment), avoidant (value independence and shy away from intimacy), and disorganised (want closeness but fear it).”
The psychological theory has been making waves over the past five years and according to Google Trends, there has been a 400% increase in searches for “attachment style” compared to the preceding five.
Speaking on the University of Chicago’s Big Brains podcast, Amir Levine, who is an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center says that attachment styles are not our deep bonds with our loved ones but instead, how we feel internally.
He explains: “It really is a safety mechanism. That’s how we feel safe in the world through other people.
“The latest research shows that when people are secure, it also affects our health. We’re healthier. It affects longevity. We live longer, and have better immune systems. So the benefits of being secure goes way beyond our romantic relationships or even just our relationships in general.”
So, how do we change and become more secure in our attachment styles?
Writing for Therapist Aid, psychotherapist Christopher Guider, MA, LMHC says: “Shaped largely by early childhood experiences, insecure attachment can persist throughout the lifespan, affecting the quality and outcome of adult relationships. Thankfully, those with insecure attachment can learn to trust and commit to their relationships by adopting new beliefs and behaviours.”
He recommends the following steps to repair your attachment style and feel more secure in relationships:
- Learn about your attachment style
- Examine your beliefs about relationships
- Act opposite to your anxious or avoidant style
- Increase your emotional awareness
- Communicate openly and listen empathetically
- Seek out others with healthy relationships
- Minimise stressors
Guider adds: “These actions work with thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, giving you an integrated approach to breaking old patterns and becoming more securely attached.”
Politics
How Your Brain Can Change During A Second Pregnancy
Heading into a second pregnancy can be daunting, especially if you didn’t have a particularly great experience the first time around. Will the sickness return? Will the first trimester be as challenging as it was last time?
However, according to new research from Amsterdam University Medical Center, second pregnancies can have significantly different impacts on the brain. In fact, Building on earlier work showing that a first pregnancy reshapes the brain, the researchers found that each pregnancy leaves its own unique imprint on the maternal brain.
How second pregnancies can change the brain
The researchers explain: “It appears that during a second pregnancy, the brain is more strongly altered in networks involved in reacting to sensory cues and in controlling your attention,
“These processes may be beneficial when caring for multiple children.”
Interestingly, the study also identified a relationship between pregnancy related brain changes and the emotional bond between mother and child. This connection was stronger after a first pregnancy than after a second.
The researchers also observed links between structural brain changes and peripartum depression, both during a first and a second pregnancy.
Researchers say: “This provides the first evidence that the changes that occur in a woman’s cerebral cortex during pregnancy are related to depression. In women who became mothers for the first time, this was particularly noticeable after giving birth.
“In women who had their second child, this was the case during pregnancy. This knowledge can help us to better recognise and understand mental health issues in mothers. We must understand how the brain adapts to motherhood.’”
Of course, to many mothers, this will not be news. In fact, according to The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in pregnancy, depression and anxiety are the most common mental health problems, affecting around 12% and 13% of women, respectively.
In the first year after birth, around 15–20% of women experience depression and anxiety.
NICE also highlights that there is evidence to suggest that perinatal depression may be commonly missed or undertreated in general practice.
Let’s hope this new research leads to meaningful change and support for mothers.
Politics
Anti-Trump conservatives Tucker Carlson, MTG, Massie huddle about launching third-party movement
President Donald Trump’s most vocal opponents on the right were sowing the seeds for a future third-party political organization during a weekend get-together aimed at undercutting the Republican establishment.
The meeting at Tucker Carlson’s compound in Maine with Rep. Thomas Massie, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and others — captured in a photo posted by Greene on Saturday — served as a launch pad for a possible independent presidential campaign focused on unwinding U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.
“We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise. But he’s betrayed us all,” Greene wrote in the post. “The movement has begun.”
Joe Kent, the former Trump national security official who resigned earlier this year and attended the weekend confab with Carlson, said the group congregated to strategize on how to best organize their shared opposition to the war in Iran.
“There’s a lot more nuts-and-bolts work that needs to be done there,” Kent said in an interview on “The Young Turks,” the progressive talk show. “Running as a third-party candidate is challenging. Not impossible, but it is very challenging. But that’s kind of the consensus that we came to, that the current system just simply doesn’t work, and we have to find something new to save our country.”
Carlson, Greene and Massie all backed Trump ahead of the 2024 election. But each one broke with Trump over the course of his second term as the Trump administration continued to coordinate military operations with Israel in the Middle East. Greene and Massie were also loudly critical of Trump’s opposition to releasing federal investigative documents relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, further drawing Trump’s ire.
It’s unclear who would lead the newborn movement. Kent said every attendee at the Maine meeting urged Carlson to run for president in 2028 with their group’s backing but noted that Carlson said he wouldn’t run.
“Hopefully he wakes up one day and Tucker says he’s going to run,” Kent said.
Carlson and Massie did not respond to requests for comment. Greene declined to comment.
The challenges facing third-party and independent presidential candidates are enormous. They must navigate different signature requirements and deadlines in each state just to get on the ballot. Past independent campaigns have been unable to compete financially with the two major parties.
The most recent third-party presidential campaign — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid in 2024 — ended months before Election Day when Kennedy endorsed Trump. At the time he dropped out, Kennedy was polling in single digits and fighting lawsuits seeking to block him from the ballot in multiple states.
Kent said the policy platform for the group’s hypothetical third-party campaign in 2028 would ignore most domestic matters and further emphasize their staunch anti-interventionism.
“I think it is having a very, very simple platform, and it’s acknowledging upfront, like, we are going to disagree on a lot of domestic policy and a lot of social issues,” Kent said. “At the end of the day, the president can talk a lot about all those things, but he really doesn’t have a lot of power.”
“We do agree that we don’t want Israel dictating our foreign policy,” he added. “We don’t want any more foreign wars.”
Lisa Kashinsky, Alec Hernandez and Sam Benson contributed to this story.
Politics
This Is How Normal Smiles Are Made Intimidating In Horror Films
Have you ever watched a horror film that features, say, innocent young children and found yourself freaked out by how they smile? Me too.
It’s so strange. Of course, the best horrors are ones that intimidate and scare you. Ones that keep you on your toes and unable to trust any character but at the end of the day, you’re scared of the way a child is smiling and that is weird, right?
Well, it turns out, there is some real science behind why we are a bit freaked out and thankfully, we’re not bad people. Just easily swayed by certain filmmaking choices! That is not a crime!
Turns out, it’s not necessarily down to the context of the film
A new study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology has found that scary music can alter how people interpret human facial expressions, making even the sweet faces of children seem sinister.
PsyPost explains: “Human interaction relies heavily on reading facial expressions to evaluate whether someone poses a threat or offers safety. Background sounds often establish an emotional context that influences how subsequent information is processed, a phenomenon known as affective priming…
“Horror film soundtracks are constructed to evoke anxiety through rapid volume changes, jarring pitches, and acoustic patterns that mimic human cries. These fear-inducing sounds tend to trigger subcortical brain regions that monitor the environment for danger.”
The Kennedy Center explains how rhythm can mimic perceived threats to build tension in films, saying: “A heartbeat, ticking clock, footsteps, a galloping horse—these are familiar sounds a composer may echo in the beat of a song. By changing the pace—speeding up the rhythm or slowing it down—the composer sends a signal that can put listeners on the edge of their seats.
“Accelerating tempo (speed of music) might suggest a chase or the heavy breathing of a frightened character. Slowing down the beat might indicate lurking evil or a fading heartbeat. Using an unsteady beat often hints that something is out of whack or out of control. Bringing back a steady rhythm helps ease the tension.”
It makes sense, doesn’t it? For those of us that regularly watch horror films, we’ll recognise the feelings of threat, goosebumps and even our heartbeat racing as the sound gradually builds. In fact, I have experienced this so vividly that I now can’t watch horrors in the cinema because it’s a little too intense for me.
Brown Hooper, podcast editor at New Scientist said to the BBC back in 2016: “The music in horror movies reminds us subconsciously of primordial times,
“Non-linear sounds like Psycho’s violin ‘stingers’ mimic the sound of animals in distress; they trigger our fear of being chased by dangerous predators. Things that feel harsh and unfamiliar manipulate us emotionally.”
Politics
James Bond Boss Hints At Daniel Craig’s Successor
It’s been five years since Daniel Craig’s last James Bond film, No Time To Die – and fans are no closer to working out who might replace the actor, despite the show’s bosses saying in mid-May that the “search for the next James Bond” was officially underway.
And speaking to Deadline, producer Amy Pascal shared the qualities she’s looking for in the next Bond.

(Amy and David Heyman have taken over from long-time 007 bosses Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli after Amazon MGM Studios took over creative control of the franchise last year.)
Speaking to the publication, she said: “Having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio – I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow.
“And it’s got to be something really different that is… stirring and exciting and different.”
Pascal also gave a timeline for when we might expect the next Bind star to be named: “I would say the end of the year is a good bet. We are being really, really methodical,” she stated.
Former Bond star Pierce Brosnan has previously shared his thoughts on who he feels should take the part next.
In a 2025 interview, he said it should be a “given” that Craig’s successor not be American.
The actor has previously endorsed Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the role.
George Clooney, meanwhile, is team Callum Turner.
He said, “I hope Callum ends up being the next Bond. I think he would be a great Bond.
“He’s tall and handsome and charming and British, so he’s the perfect guy to do it.”
Only time will tell who will really star in the upcoming spy flick, directed by Dune’s Denis Villeneuve and written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
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