Two-time Oscar-winning actor, Denzel Washington is a man who has continued to cherish his African roots despite his stardom. The Hurricane actor, who became good friends with Julia Roberts, during the filming of the 1993 thriller, The Pelican Brief, turned down a love scene with the white actress, out of loyalty to his female African-American fans.

Denzel Washington Used His Mega-Stardom To Make A Statement

Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts claimed to be friends during the filming of the 1993 film, The Pelican Brief.

This was the time when both actors were at the height of their success, and that's when Washington decided to make a statement, of course, the one that didn't favor his friend.

The actor turned down kissing Roberts during an on-screen scene. It was reported that Washington did that because of his loyalty toward his female African-American fans. During an interview with Newsweek, Washinton stated:

"Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film. They have always been my core audience."

It was also reported that despite electric chemistry with Roberts in the Alan J. Pakula-directed film, Washinton was wary of an interracial love scene after an on-screen kiss with Tom Cruise's ex-wife, Mimi Rogers in a test screening of 1989 film The Mighty Quinn, drew "loud boos from black women" in the audience.

Julia Roberts Faced Questions For Not Kissing Her Black Co-Star

If we go by the whispers across Hollywood, it sounds convincing that Denzel Washinton once lobbied to cut out an interracial love scene with Radha Mitchell from Man on Fire, of course, for similar reasons.

But again, in Julia Robert's case, it was the actress who had to take "so much s**t over the years about not kissing Denzel" in that film.

The Academy Award-winning actress revealed in a previous interview that she wanted to kiss the American Gangster star, who continues to remain her close friend to date. Roberts expressed:

"I have taken so much s**t over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film. Don't I have a pulse? Of course, I wanted to kiss Denzel. It was his idea to take the damn scenes out."

However, Denzel Washington overcame the weird feeling of not opting to indulge in an on-screen interracial love scene with the release of Flight (2012), wherein he didn't hesitate to lock lips with the English beauty, Kelly Reilley.

Angelina Jolie is another white actress, who managed to have, what one can call "mental s*x" with Washington during the filming of the 1999 thriller, The Bone Collector. The actress once revealed that during a scene, she used her "smell and intellect to seduce" Washington (Lincoln), and said this was the "best s*x I ever had." 

Source: Looper