Michael Ealy is not exactly a newcomer to romantic movies, but he did forget to check his pits (or something to that effect) while filming a love scene with Taraji P. Henson. This is a blast from the past, but on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the host broached the subject of 2014’s Think Like A Man Too, which led to Kelly coaxing Michael to tell an embarrassing story.
The exchange happens after the 7:00 mark above and includes the embarrassment associated with Taraji telling Michael that he smelled quite “ripe” on set. To Kelly, Michael explained why he didn’t feel physically prepared for baring his body on camera, so he was hustling to look pumped in between takes, and “before this scene where I’m like shirtless in the bed with her and stuff like that, I did about 250 push-ups… in about 20, 25 minutes while they are setting up the shot… I was just working my ass off to try and to pump up the muscles.”
He further explained, “That’s a trick… It makes you a little moist.” That word caused a brief pause for obvious reasons, and Michael revised. “I was glistening, and I’m laying down with her and we were like in between takes,” he explained. “And she’s like kind of like in here, because I’m kind of on top of her. We’re just sitting there in between the takes, and she says to me, she goes, ‘Hmmm. You kind of ripe.’”
Taraji enjoyed this very much, according to Michael: “She was like, ‘Michael Ealy is not perfect.” He then conceded, “It was really hard to be romantic after that.” No kidding.