Alyson Stoner Felt ‘Uncomfortable’ About Having Their First Kiss With Dylan & Cole Sprouse On The Suite Life

Alyson Stoner didn’t have a sweet experience when it came to their first kiss.

As you may know, the former child star, who uses they/them pronouns, made several appearances on the Disney Channel hit series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, where they portrayed Max — the best friend of Dylan and Cole Sprouse‘s characters. During their time on the show, Alyson had to share a kiss with both of the twins. The problem with that was? The actor had no idea there was a kissing storyline in the series when they auditioned for the role at 12 years old and was not OK with it happening at all!

According to Alyson, they had signed on for the role of Max and already filmed an episode for the show. But one day, they received a script featuring a liplock scene with Dylan and Cole. The Camp Rock alum explained on the latest episode of their Dear Hollywood podcast:

“Writers and executives might decide to make your character do anything on the next episode and it’s assumed that you’re going to agree to whatever is scripted. My first kiss and several of the times I experienced kissing all happened on camera. I remember on Suite Life on Disney, I’d already booked the role of Max and I’d filmed an episode. … Well, a few weeks later, they wrote an episode where Max had to kiss both twins.”

So the scene in question seems to appear in an episode in season 1 called “Kisses and Basketball,” in which Max suddenly kissed Zack after they won a basketball game. The episode did not feature a kiss between Max and Cody. However, Alyson noted on the podcast that they were unsure if the second smooch “ended up in the final edit or if Disney was like, ‘That’s a little too much kissing for one episode.’”

As for the dancer’s thoughts on it at the time? The idea of having a first kiss on camera AND at a young age made them feel very “uncomfortable” since they were not “ready” for that step in their life. They said:

“Did I know that when I auditioned for Max? No. Was I ready for that? No.”

Despite their feelings about it, Alyson felt obligated to go through with the scene as they were “already under contract” and “didn’t want to be difficult” since they were only on the show as a recurring role. Awful. No actor should ever be forced to do these kinds of scenes in fear of retaliation or earning the “difficult” label. Especially not a child, for that matter.

But they ended up kissing the twins:

“I felt young and uncomfortable. … I felt like this is part of my job. I chose to audition for this project. It’s only a character. Okay, I can have my first kiss here and then I’ll have my own separate first kiss at some point.”

And sadly, so many young actors and actresses have experienced this kind of pressure to go through scenes or situations they weren’t ready for whatsoever for the sake of keeping their jobs. Ugh. It’s great to see Alyson shedding light on these important issues regarding the entertainment business. You can check out their full podcast episode (below):