There’s one kiss in the Fifty Shades trilogy that fans have never seen—and according to insiders, it might have been the most emotionally powerful moment Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan ever filmed.
The kiss occurred during an early cut of Fifty Shades Freed, in a scene that was ultimately deleted after a tense debate between the director, studio, and even the actors themselves. It wasn’t a steamy bedroom moment or a playful romantic tease—it was a quiet, deeply vulnerable kiss in the middle of an argument between Ana and Christian.
According to an assistant editor who worked on the film, the scene took place shortly after Ana discovers that she might be pregnant. Christian, still emotionally unavailable, reacts coldly. Ana storms off into another room, heartbroken. But then, in a twist that wasn’t in the script, Jamie Dornan follows her, cups her face, and kisses her—not with passion, but with apology.
“It wasn’t just a kiss,” the crew member recalled. “It was like he was trying to say ‘I’m sorry for who I am, but I love you anyway.’”
So why did such a powerful moment get cut?
According to director James Foley, the scene disrupted the flow of the final act. “It was beautiful,” he admitted in a podcast interview years later. “But it made Christian seem almost too perfect too soon. We needed his redemption to be slower. That kiss was like the end of a character arc—but it came too early.”
But others weren’t so sure.
Dakota Johnson reportedly pushed to keep the scene in, arguing that it was the first time the audience could truly believe Christian had changed on his own, without pressure. “It was real,” she reportedly said on set. “We earned that moment.”
Jamie Dornan was said to be torn. Privately, he felt the kiss brought something deeper to Christian’s character, but publicly he remained quiet, deferring to the creative team. Fans have speculated that his silence had more to do with the real-life tension between him and Johnson at the time than creative disagreements.
Interestingly, rumors about the deleted kiss gained traction after an early test screening, where a handful of viewers claimed the scene “broke their hearts” and “redeemed Christian instantly.” But the studio worried that such a moment might divide audiences—especially those who preferred the tension between Ana and Christian to linger longer.
What’s most frustrating for fans is that the scene was reportedly fully filmed and edited, not just scripted or rehearsed. It was “screen-ready,” insiders claim, and only removed in the final cut of the theatrical release. To this day, it has never appeared in any deleted scenes compilation or director’s cut.
So where is it now?
Some believe the footage is locked away in Universal’s archives, potentially reserved for a future re-release or anniversary edition. Others aren’t so hopeful, suggesting that the decision to cut the kiss was so controversial, it may have been permanently buried.
Still, whispers of “the deleted kiss” continue to haunt the fandom. Every year, fans petition for an extended cut, hoping to see that one unscripted, powerful moment that—just maybe—would have changed the way we saw Christian and Ana’s love story.
It wasn’t the hottest kiss.
It wasn’t the longest.
But by all accounts, it was the one that felt most real.
