Two Skins stars reveal they had "f*cked up" and "traumatizing" experiences filming sex scenes

Refinery29

April Pearson, who starred on the original cast of Skins, interviewed Laya Lewis, who joined for the show's third generation in Seasons 5 and 6 for her Are You Michelle From Skins? podcast. Discussing the prevalence of intimacy coordinators on sets these days, both said they didn't feel protected or coached well enough to feel comfortable doing very intimate scenes. Skins, which ran on Channel 4's digital channel E4 from 2007 through 2013, distinguished itself from other teen shows by actually casting teenagers. "At the time you're young and you don't know any better," said Pearson, who was a teenager when she starred on Skins. "You don't really know what to say, to speak out, is this okay… And as with a lot of victims of trauma, you look back at it and think: 'Yeah, that was fucked up.' There's a difference between being officially old enough and mentally old enough. I was having this conversation with my husband and I was saying I do feel like I was too young, I feel like I wasn't protected." Lewis, who was 18 during the time of filming, believed she was given more sex scenes because of her age. "I do think fair enough, we are actors and we are acting, but I think if you want to pluck children out of the street, which is essentially what they were doing to have this authentic onscreen thing going on, there needs to be a bit more help," she said.