A Visual History of Gross Celebrity PDA That We Can Never Unsee
PDA is a divisive topic. How ever you feel about public displays of affection, and whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not, celebrities find themselves constantly caught in a game of cat-and-mouse between them and the paparazzi when it comes to their intimate moments—which will inevitably be caught on camera, spread like wildfire, and likely seared into the collective consciousness, for better or worse. The usual suspects, from Cardi B to Justin Bieber, can’t seem to stop making out in public. Here, the gross, the silly, the iconic, and the just plain awkward celebrity PDA moments that we wish we could erase from our memories. You’re welcome?
Perhaps the originators of the celebrity PDA game, Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson once had a symbiotic relationship between themselves, their tongues, and the paparazzi.
Perhaps the most PDA Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield ever displayed happened to occur on live television when they both appeared on Saturday Night Live to spoof their own Spider-Man characters.
When your husband is known for sticking his tongue out abnormally far, then maybe this sort of red carpet PDA moment should be expected.
Kissing your wife in the middle of a Halloween party is one thing, but to make out with her while your mom is mere inches away? That just seems wrong.
The psychosexual game the Kiss Cam asks its subjects to play in front of an arena full of spectators is nothing to be scoffed at, but this moment between Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel captured at the Staples Center in 2012 is just plain awkward.
Looking at Nicole Kidman bend down to kiss Keith Urban on the Paddington red carpet feels about as awkward as accidentally sneaking a peek at your mom and dad smooching. At least this romantic gesture was nowhere near as grand and sweeping as the one that convinced Kidman to marry Urban (he showed up on her New York City stoop and swept her upstate on his motorcycle).
PDA caught on camera is certainly not excluded to smooches—just look at Kanye West’s hand placement on his wife Kim Kardashian .
Though she may be a bit camera shy now, Angelina Jolie and her then-husband Billy-Bob Thornton, were the talk of the town as far as Hollywood smooches go, all the way back in 2000.
This is a tame display of affection for these two, but it’s not exactly the kiss between Behati Prinsloo and Adam Levine that makes this photograph awkward—it’s her inexplicable hand position.
Turning a paparazzi shot of yourself and your wife kissing into minor album promo is nothing short of gauche, but what else do you expect from Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag?
By the time September 2018 rolled around, everyone was already used to Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin making out everywhere in public (most notably, all around New York and Brooklyn). But this particular smooch caught on camera happened the same week Bieber whipped out his guitar on the street in London and began serenading his then-fiancée with Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which is actually the corniest public gesture he could have pulled.
Adjusting your man’s sweater while seated next to one another at a sporting event may seem innocuous, but when you remember that age difference (roughly 23 years), catching this action on camera just feels dark.
Bella Hadid and The Weeknd could barely make it across the street before making out in front of their bodyguard last fall.
When Justin Long and Drew Barrymore dated from 2007 to 2010, one smooch in Central Park was caught on camera to immortalize the relationship.
Not even Lindsey Vonn could resist laughing at Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen hamming it up for the kiss cam at the U.S. Open in 2015.
The pair meant it as a joke, but we still can’t unsee it.
