‘Orange Is The New Black’ Season 3 Spoilers: Taylor Schilling Opens Up About Filming Uncomfortable Nude Scenes

Fans of the hit Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” know there is no shortage of nudity and sex going on in Litchfield women’s prison. Unfortunately it seems not every inmate in the fictional prison is comfortable stripping down for the cameras.

During a recent interview at the Television Academy’s screening panel for the show, star Taylor Schilling admitted that she’s “needed some hand holding” to get through getting naked on set. The 30-year-old actress said she’s placed several anxiety-ridden phone calls to “OITNB” creator Jenji Kohan, which has helped her to become more comfortable with the idea.

“It’s a physical manifestation of the internal vulnerability. Once that’s very clear, as an actor, I can go anywhere,” she said. “I’ve gained a lot of confidence through that, too.”

While Kohan assured both Schilling and the panel’s audience she never writes a sex scene without “a good reason,” she admits she wishes there were more. The 45-year-old show runner said it’s not that she feels the show is lacking on nudity – because it’s definitely not – but rather that she wishes she could showcase the wide variety of body types and skin colors that make up the “OITNB” cast. Unfortunately she says the “prudish, puritanical culture” of today’s society has prevented that.

This isn’t the first time Schilling’s expressed fears about shooting sex scenes. In August 2013, Schilling told Shape magazine it was “so nerve-racking” to shoot sex scenes, largely because this was the first time she’d been asked to do it. She later added that eventually, “after a couple of takes,” she got used to it adding that having such a supportive cast also helped.

“I was definitely nervous. The most amazing thing happened, though. Once you do it, it’s this bizarre thing – after a couple of takes it becomes so comfortable,” she said. “The set and cast is just so extraordinary I didn’t feel strange at all. Any reservations about my body, I just felt this is who I am as a woman.”

“Orange Is the New Black” Season 3 will be available for streaming, in its entirety, on June 12.