Actor Neal McDonough ‘lost everything’ after Hollywood turned on him

A prolific Hollywood film and TV actor has claimed he was shut out of the industry for years – all due to one unusual rule in his contract.

A veteran actor who appeared in the hit series Yellowstone has claimed his Hollywood career has hit the skids – all because of an unusual stipulation he’s had added into his contracts.

Actor Neal McDonough, 59, claimed in the latest episode of the podcast Nothing Left Unsaid that his career has taken a hit due to his refusal to kiss women on screen.

The strict Catholic explained that he didn’t want to kiss anyone other than his wife of 22 years Ruve McDonough – even if it was for a role.

The prolific actor, who has appeared in TV shows including Desperate Housewives, Band of Brothers, Tin Man and Boomtown, said it was his decision to put the restriction into his contracts.

Neal McDonough says one unusual rule in his contract had Hollywood sour on him.

McDonough as he appeared on Desperate Housewives.

‘I’d always had in my contracts I wouldn’t kiss another woman on-screen,” McDonough said. “My wife didn’t have any problem with it. It was me, really, who had a problem with it. I was like: ‘I don’t want to put [wife Ruve] through it. I know we’re going to start having kids, and I don’t want to put my kids through it.”

The couple have had five children since marrying in 2003.

“When I couldn’t do it, and they couldn’t understand it, Hollywood just completely turned on me. They wouldn’t let me be part of the show anymore.”

McDonough didn’t specify which show he was referring to, but said that he “lost everything” because of the Hollywood shut-out.

“For two years, I couldn’t get a job and I lost everything you could possibly imagine,” McDonough added. “Not just houses and material things, but your swagger, your cool, who you are, your identity – everything. My identity was an actor, and a really good one. And once you don’t have that identity, you’re kind of lost in a tailspin.”

The actor said it had been “very difficult to go through what I went through. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.”

Neal and his wife Ruve.

Neal’s been a prolific actor since making his screen debut in 1990.

McDonough’s claims of a Hollywood blacklist are hard to pinpoint given his prolific work rate: The actor has appeared in countless films and TV shows since making his screen debut in 1990. Most recently, he appeared as one of the main cast in season two of Tulsa King last year, and has three films set for release in 2025.

And it seems McDonough has found a way to get around his own restrictive contract: He served as writer and producer for one of the films he released this year, The Last Rodeo, and cast his wife Ruve as his character’s wife.

He said his wife, a former model, needing some convincing to make her acting debut – “but when it was game day, she was so prepared and so ready and she crushed it. She was so great in the movie,” he said.

“And to kiss my wife, my real wife in a movie that I wrote and produced … I can’t imagine anything better than that when it comes to my career.”

Originally published as Actor Neal McDonough ‘lost everything’ after Hollywood turned on him