It was supposed to be one of the steamiest scenes in Fifty Shades Freed — a slow, vulnerable shower moment between Christian and Ana that turned unexpectedly dark. But the world never saw it.
The scene was shot in late 2016, deep in the Vancouver set of Christian Grey’s penthouse bathroom. Unlike their usual intimate sequences, this one took a turn that shocked even the production team.
According to the original script, Ana walks in on Christian standing in the shower, water pouring down, eyes shut, completely still. She joins him, expecting closeness — but instead, he flinches. Hard. Almost violently.
This was meant to be the moment Ana sees Christian at his lowest: stripped of confidence, haunted by nightmares, and unable to accept comfort.
As Ana touches his back, he freezes, his breathing turns erratic, and he whispers, “Don’t touch me there.” It was a rare callback to Christian’s childhood trauma — and a moment that Dakota Johnson later described as “the most emotionally demanding scene I’ve ever done.”
The take was silent for several minutes, the only sound being the water hitting tile.
Then, as scripted, Ana slowly wraps her arms around him, refusing to pull away. It was a delicate dance — not sexual, but achingly intimate. And that’s where things got complicated behind the scenes.
Multiple takes had to be done due to the emotional weight. Jamie Dornan reportedly stayed silent between takes, barely interacting with anyone. One crew member said he stared at the floor, whispering lines to himself as if trying not to cry.
But Dakota faced the real storm.
The bathroom set was freezing. The water? Barely warm. They filmed for hours, and she had to stay wet the entire time, her robe soaked and discarded between each shot. By the third take, her skin was visibly red and trembling.
Still, she pushed through.
“I felt like I was holding something real,” she said later, privately. “It wasn’t Christian. It was Jamie. That fear, that need to shut down — it was real.”
The director, James Foley, called for one more take — this time tighter, more raw. Dakota entered the shower again, arms around Jamie, forehead to his shoulder. No dialogue. Just emotion.
And then, something happened no one expected.
Jamie broke character.
He started sobbing — not scripted, not planned. The camera kept rolling. Dakota didn’t move. She held him as the water continued pouring over them, both actors shaking, the crew frozen in place.
The room went silent afterward. Even the sound tech whispered, “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
The footage was later reviewed in post-production, and Foley fought to include it in the final cut. But producers stepped in.
Their reason?
“It was too intense. Too real. It no longer felt like a fantasy.”
The final film replaced it with a much tamer bathroom scene. No breakdown. No confrontation. Just soft lighting and PG-13 closeness.
But that original shower scene? It left a mark on everyone who witnessed it. The crew, the director — and most of all, the two actors who lived it.
To this day, the footage remains locked in the Universal vaults. But rumors swirl. Some say it might appear in a “director’s cut” someday. Others believe it’s been destroyed to preserve the franchise’s romantic tone.
Whatever the truth, one thing is clear:
The most unforgettable moment in Fifty Shades Freed… is the one the world never saw.
