Actor Riley Keough learned the hard way that a kiss is not just a kiss when your co-star has a food allergy.
In a video for Vanity Fair magazine, Keough, 34, reviews a series of photos from her past. One photo (shown above) captures a scene she did with the actor Andrew Garfield in the 2018 movie thriller Under the Silver Lake. Garfield turns out to have a severe peanut allergy, but Keough hadn’t been aware of this.
She credits a fast-thinking makeup artist for averting a kissing scene disaster that could have put Garfield in the hospital with an allergic reaction.
“It was actually very stressful,” says Keough. She recounts sitting in the makeup trailer and eating a granola bar. “I was about to shoot a scene where I have to kiss Andrew,” says the actor and inheritor of her grandfather Elvis Presley’s estate.
“The makeup lady was like, ‘Are there peanuts in that?’ And I was like, ‘I think … I don’t know,'” Keough says. The makeup artist then ran off to retrieve the film’s producer.
The producer took the news very seriously. “Reilly, Andrew is very allergic to peanuts, and we have to shut the set down,” Keough recalls him saying. He added that with Garfield’s allergy, the bars shouldn’t have been available at craft services, “and I don’t know why they’re on set.”
Keough (Daisy Jones & The Six, Mad Max: Fury Road) was shocked about the sudden serious situation. She remembers thinking: “That’s crazy,” and quickly adds: “Thank God this woman caught it.”
Garfield, the actor known for roles including the Spider-Man franchise, Hacksaw Ridge, and The Social Network, has spoken previously of his severe allergies. An actor-friend even taught him to say that he has “a deadly allergy to all nuts” in Spanish.
Hot Tips for Kissing with Allergies
Allergic reactions to kissing when one romantic partner has been eating an allergen are not uncommon. But experts have told Allergic Living they will vary in occurrence and severity.
In two studies, between 5 and 12 percent of allergic patients surveyed reported kissing reactions. Most of the reactions related to kissing shortly after eating an allergen.
So what to do if it turns out someone you’d like to kiss has recently consumed your allergen? The studies related to peanut allergy that we’ve covered show how food protein can linger in saliva.
But the combination of waiting for at least four hours before kissing, having your date or partner eat a safe snack and then brush their teeth can minimize reaction risks.
Learn much more in advocate Gina Clowes’s article: “Food Allergies, Hot Tips for Kissing Safely“.
Riley Keough was interviewed in relation to a cover story about her in Vanity Fair’s September 2023 magazine. In it, she discusses her unique life – from growing up a Presley, to acting, losing her mother Lisa Marie, and inheriting her grandfather’s estate including Graceland.
