Euphoria actress feared ‘losing her role’ if she said no to nude scenes 

A star of Euphoria has said that she feared she would ‘lose her part’ if she said no to doing nudity.

Alexa Demie, 35, who plays Maddy Perez, has featured in all three seasons of Sam Levinson’s hit HBO series, which first aired in 2019.

Following the release of the latest instalment, the show has repeatedly come under fire for its graphic and sexual content.

Now, however, Alexa has lifted the lid on her experience of shooting scenes involving nakedness.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress said: ‘I thought that if I said no to doing them [sex scenes], then I wouldn’t have the part.

‘Not because anyone ever said that to me, but because I was so young and I didn’t know.’

Describing one particular moment during the filming of the first season when she shot a montage of Maddy cheating on Nate Jacobs (played by Jacob Elordi), the star recalled how she realised it felt uncomfortable.

‘I’m not saying I don’t love sex, and I think it can be portrayed beautifully, and I know the show is portraying the life of teenage girls,’ she added.

‘But 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.’

This comes after Alexa’s co-star, Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie Howard, issued what appeared to be a rebuttal on social media against viewers criticising the series.

Throughout the release of Euphoria, fans on numerous occasions called out ‘disturbing’ and ‘unhinged’ moments involving the Anyone But You star.

Moments included Sydney’s character rubbing drugs on her genitals and performing a ‘dog humiliation ritual’, having started an OnlyFans account to fund her lavish wedding.

She’s also filmed sexual scenes dressed like a baby and fully exposing her breasts during an on-screen client’s masturbation, scenes viewers branded ‘unnecessary’ and even led to them calling for Levinson to be ‘locked up’.

Posting on Instagram, however, ahead of the series finale, Sydney shared a slew of behind-the-scenes snaps with the seemingly sarcastic caption: ‘It’s called… acting.’

The Housemaid lead has defended Levinson in the past, too, telling Variety in the past that she and her co-stars (which include Zendaya) are ‘very strong-minded, independent women’.

‘If we didn’t feel comfortable with something, or we saw something we didn’t like, we’d all speak up,’ she stated.

‘It’s hard to see someone (Levinson) completely trashed by the public and the media when no one’s actually there. We are there, and clearly we’re still working on the show, and we’re still supportive.’

But it isn’t just the sexual content that has raised eyebrows for what is believed to be Euphoria’s final outing.

Fans were particularly concerned about a moment involving a graphic sex scene in front of a Nazi flag, in which a character also had a swastika tattooed on his chest.

Ultimately, it all got a bit too intense in the penultimate episode, which led to Jacob’s Nate character dying, buried alive and meeting a grisly demise… involving a snake.

In the aftermath, creator Levinson defended his creative choices.

Levinson told Esquire: ‘There’s this kind of funny thing where I know what the audience wants in terms of justice or karma, and with that in mind, I always think, “Well, how can I give it to them?”

‘How can I give them 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?’

Euphoria season 3 episode 8 is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW from Monday.

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