Why Maria Menounos Avoids Sex Scenes: Can’t Have an ‘Orgasm’ on Screen

Maria Menounos got into the festive spirit in Lifetime’s Christmas at Plumhill Manor but still gets wary about potential sex scenes.

“I could never really pursue a lot of acting stuff because I’m like, ‘This part I can’t do. I can’t be having orgasms on camera. It’s just not going to happen. It’s not for me,’” Menounos, 46, exclusively joked to Us Weekly on Wednesday, November 13. “I could never have been Khaleesi [on Game of Thrones.] … Holiday movies are perfect.”

Menounos most recently appears in Christmas at Plumhill Manor, a new holiday romance about a New York-based architect who spends the holiday at the English manor she unexpectedly inherits. While the film keeps it primarily PG, there are still several onscreen kisses.

“I hate all the kissing scenes. And [my husband, Keven Undergaro, is] like, ‘Go be a professional,’” she recalled on Wednesday. “And I’m like, ‘You’re not supposed to like this.’ I mean, he doesn’t want to be on set, he doesn’t want to see it, that’s for sure, but he’s like, ‘Go be a professional. Why don’t you?’”

Menounos further joked that she “[wanted] to die” having to lock lips with Plumhill Manor costar Kyle Pryor, adding the first took place on the inaugural day of filming.

“Now, they like a lot of kissing scenes. We’ve upgraded,” she quipped. “We need more romance, so now it’s not one. It’s a couple. So, usually, we wait a little longer for the rest of it so that it’s like some chemistry builds so it doesn’t feel as awkward. You get to know somebody before putting your mouth on each other. It’s very intimate.”

While Menounos noted that her dad still gets “freaked out” watching her passionate scenes, husband Undergaro is more supportive.

“We definitely have each other’s backs, and he’s such a champion of mine, and he also really allowed me to be free,” Menounos gushed of her spouse. “I never felt like I couldn’t be me. He never restricted friendships, where a lot of guys will get jealous, Keven was like, ‘Go see X, Y, or Z, you miss your friends,’ and didn’t matter if they were guys. I’m a very kind of flirty person. He just never was intimidated by any of it.”

She added, “I think that’s a big secret, and we’re best friends, and he always, for the most part, sometimes he’ll forget, but when I’m spinning and spiraling, he’ll really be like, ‘Come on, honey,’ and he’ll help me. He’ll be really loving in those moments rather than be annoyed by me or shut me off.”

Menounos and Undergaro, who share 16-month-old daughter Athena, also launched a joint We Heart Holidays production company earlier this year.

“This whole Christmas movie thing was inadvertent. I always say my mom kind of made it happen after she passed because it was a month later, I was starring as Ryan McPartlin‘s little sister in this movie with Jana Kramer and him,” Menounos explained, referring to Lifetime’s The Holiday Fix-Up. “And from there, the director called me for the last one and then this one. And so, [Keven and I] were really excited to create We Heart Holidays, so that we can make these ourselves. It’s just fun for us to get back to our filmmaking roots and also make things that we want to make.”

Christmas at Plumhill Manor was a particularly enjoyable filming experience, especially with its setting across the pond in London.

“It was fun. I mean, listen, these movies are hard to shoot sometimes because they’re pretty fast and furious, but the London countryside was so beautiful and it was such a star of this movie because most movies don’t get to do that,” she gushed. “And Narrative Pictures really wanted to film this in London, and it was a great call because I think you’re going to see something that you don’t get to see often in these movies. I think there’s only two other kinds of British-y Christmas movies, so I think it’s very rich in its setting, and the actors are insane. They’re so good.”

Christmas at Plumhill Manor premieres on Lifetime Saturday, November 16, at 8 p.m. ET and will be available on demand throughout December.

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi