Euphoria actress Alexa Demie has revealed she feared she would lose her role if she refused to perform nude scenes. Demie, 35, who plays Maddy Perez in the hit HBO series, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about her experiences on set.
“I thought that if I said no to doing them, then I wouldn’t have the part,” Demie said. “Not because anyone ever said that to me, but because I was so young and I didn’t know.” She recalled a montage in the first season where her character cheats on Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi, which made her feel uncomfortable.
“Once I did it, I realised, ‘OK, I don’t love how this feels.’ So I said something, and everyone was empathetic, and I never did that again,” she added. The show has faced criticism for its graphic sexual content, with co-star Sydney Sweeney previously defending creator Sam Levinson.
Sweeney, who plays Cassie Howard, posted behind-the-scenes snaps on Instagram with the caption “It’s called… acting,” after viewers criticised scenes involving drug use and explicit content. She told Variety that she and her co-stars are “very strong-minded, independent women” and would speak up if uncomfortable.
Euphoria season three has also sparked controversy over a graphic sex scene in front of a Nazi flag and a character with a swastika tattoo. Levinson defended his choices, telling Esquire he aims to give audiences what they want “but make it so horrific and anxiety-inducing that by the time it happens, the audience isn’t so sure they wanted it.”
