Caitriona Balfe opens up about the difficulties of Outlander’s sex scenes

Outlander star Caitriona Balfe (Claire Fraser) gets candid about the insecurities that can arise when filming sex scenes.

Caitriona Balfe brings so much truth to her character on Outlander, Claire Fraser, particularly in scenes she shares with costar Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Their scenes are fun, tense and frequently passionate, if you know what I mean.

The infamous sexy time scenes between Claire and Jamie are the heart of Outlander. But actually bringing these scenes to life is anything but easy.

Caitriona Balfe joined David Berry (Lord John Grey) and Tim Downie (Governor Tryon) on an episode of their podcast Outcasts to talk about it. She got candid about the struggles of baring it all for the cameras. “It’s such a weird thing, because you’re constantly, or at least I am constantly, torn between these two things of well, Claire would not be going to the gym so I should not have a gym body. And, she’s now a woman in her fifties so you know, I should try and let that be the thing that leads me. But, then you have all of your own personal s**t, right?”

"You have your own personal shame and vanity and all of those things, and you try to leave those at the door but you also know that if you feel insecure, that’s going to hamper your ability to lose yourself in a scene. So it’s always this thing I’m constantly battling with, between leaving my s**t at the door and also giving myself I guess, enough confidence to be able to walk into those scenes and not have to think about whether or not I have cellulite on my a** or whatever these things are that kind of run through your head. We’re not unflawed people, and it’s hard sometimes to live up to the expectation."

I can’t imagine how difficult that must be. As fans, we love the love scenes, but we don’t often think about what it takes to make them happen, or what the actors have to take into consideration to make sure things ring true while also preserving their personal dignity and sanity. Having to take all that into consideration must take its toll. And Balfe and Heughan are naked a lot on this show, which means the actors are constantly grappling with these issues.

I truly appreciate Caitriona Balfe being so honest and open about the reality of filming nude/sex scenes. It’s clearly not easy, but she does it for the sake of the story and the character. Kudos to her for committing to giving us a complete picture of Jamie and Claire’s intimate relationship.

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h/t Cinemablend, Express