Game of Thrones actress Carice Van Houten reveals her big sex scene regret

She was involved in countless trysts on Game of Thrones, but Carice Van Houten has revealed why she regrets stripping off.

Game of Thrones actress Carice Van Houten is opening up about the show’s graphic sex scenes.

In an interview with Insider, Van Houten, who played the Red Woman Melisandre, revealed that the #MeToo movement has led her to regret many of her Game of Thrones sex scenes, as she feels they served little narrative function.

“In retrospect, I thought, ‘Why did that scene have to be nude?'” she said. “I’ve done that enough now. No more.”

Carice Van Houten had her fair share of naked scenes in Game of Thrones.

Van Houten had numerous sex scenes in Game of Thrones — which is available to stream on Foxtel Now – Melisandre’s trysts with Stannis (Stephen Dillane) and Gendry (Joe Dempsie) are particularly memorable.

But she said in the wake of the #MeToo movement, she began to question whether such graphic nudity was necessary.

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Carice Van Houten as her GoT character, Melisandre. Picture: HBO

“I was always very liberal and I defended nudity because I thought, ‘Why can you have a machine gun and not see a nipple?’ I thought it was so weird,” she said.

“(But) when the MeToo movement started, that’s when it started sinking in.

“It did sort of change my perspective on my whole career, not just Game of Thrones.”

The actress said she began to question why it was “normal” to see so much nudity on Game of Thrones, particularly with regard to women.

“I became very aware of the male gaze,” Van Houten added.

“It was not so much that I was blaming anyone, but that’s just how we evolved, and just how the movement affected me … My consciousness is bigger. I’m a bit more woke.”

Every single season of Game of Thrones is available exclusively on Foxtel. Trial it here

Van Houten says her perspective about nudity in scenes has changed. Picture: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Overall, the experience has turned Van Houten off sex scenes.

She told Insider that she’s brought the lesson she learned on Game of Thrones to her other projects, including her 2019 film Instinct, directed by Halina Reijn.

“We sort of made it into a dogma where we are done with (nudity),” said the actress. “We don’t need to show nudity to create intimacy, we don’t need to see breasts.”

Van Houten is married to Australian actor and director, Guy Pearce. They had their first child, son Monte, in 2016.

Guy Pearce and Carice van Houten with their son, Monte. Picture: Twitter/Guy Pearce

This article originally appeared on Decider and was reproduced with permission