When Kate McKinnon’s weird Barbie told Margot Robbie’s stereotypical Barbie that she would, ‘Like to see what kind of nude blob Ken was packing under his jeans’, she wasn’t alone.
Collectively, audiences hoped that Ryan Gosling’s Ken might whip off those Hawaiian shorts and give us all a treat. Alas, despite some tantalisingly close calls in indie hit Blue Valentine and Place Beyond the Pines, where he famously fell in love for reals with co-star Eva Mendes, Gosling’s underwear has remained fully attached to his perfect posterior.
But while Ryan might be coy about revealing all, these incredible female actors are all about empowerment and are, unlike Ken, not afraid to bear all. Let’s hear it for the fabulous A-list women who have bared their boobs to the world.
Margot Robbie
The Australian actress insisted that she was completely naked for her full-frontal scene in Wolf Of Wall Street. Even when the director offered her the chance to wear a robe, she declined, telling Martin Scorsese, 'She has to be naked. She's laying her cards on the table.'
Her breakout role playing Naomi, the real-life wife of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort, saw her wearing just stockings and heels as she stands in a doorway before seducing her soon-to-be new lover.
She said, 'I think it's disgusting when someone would have got naked in real life, in the film they conveniently leave their bra on, or hold up the bed sheet. Seeing someone being choreographed into being covered up irritates me just as much.'
Sydney Sweeney
The owner of the most famous boobs in Hollywood wasn’t shy of giving them some screen time in Voyeurs, playing opposite Ben Hardy, who also bared all for the 2021 thriller’s sex scene.
Sweeney has said of her willingness to appear naked on screen, 'People forget that I’m playing a character. They think, “Oh, she gets naked onscreen, she’s a sex symbol." And I can’t get past that. I have no problems with those scenes, and I won’t stop doing them, but I wish there was an easier way to have an open conversation about what we’re assuming about actors in the industry.'
Halle Berry
For her Oscar-winning role in 2001’s Monster’s Ball, Halle Berry said that prior to shooting the film, both her and co-star Billy Bob Thornton had spoken about the full nudity required for their characters’ sex scene.
Filmed in just one take, Berry said, 'We both agreed to be uninhibited with our bodies, so it wasn’t just the woman who was being exposed, and we just said, "Let’s service these characters."' Oscar in the bag.
Angelina Jolie
'Love scenes are strange anyway, but when you’re doing a love scene with a person that you really have sex with? The only way to get through it was for us to all talk about the absurdity of it and make sure no one was feeling awkward,' Angelina Jolie said of her nudity with then-husband Brad Pitt in 2015’s By The Sea.
The film, which centres around the breakdown of a couple’s marriage, was swiftly followed by the breakdown of Pitt and Jolie’s relationship in real life.
Kate Winslet
It was, according to Kate Winslet, 'just another day in the office' when she stripped down for her role as novelist Iris Murdoch in 2001’s Iris.
She said, 'I just go in and say, "Oh f-ck let’s do it" and boom. If you complain about it or procrastinate, it’s not going to go away. It’s a profoundly bizarre thing to do. As actors, you talk about it all the time. You can literally be tangled in sheets, and you turn to the other actor and say, "What the f-ck are we doing?" Dear Mum, at work today, I had so-and-so’s left nut sack pressed against my cheek.'
Jennifer Lawrence
Once publicly swearing that she would never go nude, it was all change for Jennifer Lawrence in Russian spy thriller Red Sparrow, where she said she found her nude scene empowering.
It wasn’t all plain sailing, though, as she told Ellen DeGeneres. Not wanting Jen to be cold, they had apparently made it too warm on set, forcing her to tell the crew, 'What are you doing with this heat!? My nipples are going to be huge!'
She bared all again for 2023’s No Hard Feelings, saying of her full-frontal nudity, 'I didn’t even have a second thought. It was hilarious to me.'
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston most recently stripped off for a sex scene with Jon Hamm in Apple TV’s The Morning Show, but it wasn’t the first time Aniston had been sans clothes. In her 2006 hit comedy The Breakup, she treated audience to a glimpse of her perfect posterior.
She said, 'It's one of those scenes that you sort of forget about because you love the movie and the script so much,' adding, 'I just knew that it would be shot tastefully and it was such a funny joke in my mind, that I just figured, "Well, just grin and bear it".'
Demi Moore
She might not have taken home an Oscar for her role as Elizabeth Sparkle in 2024’s The Substance, but of her naked scenes in the film, Demi Moore said, 'There was an incredibly liberating aspect to stepping into this really vulnerable, exposed place emotionally and physically.'
When asked about her full-frontal nude scene with Magaret Qualley, Demi said, 'I had someone who was a great partner, who I felt very safe with. We obviously were quite close – naked – and we also got a lot of levity in those moments at how absurd those certain situations were.'