bitchy | People are mad about Pedro Pascal & Vanessa Kirby’s affectionate friendship

Pedro Pascal is a man who loves his female costars. I’m sure he loves – and is loved by – his male costars. But when he gets to star in a project alongside a woman, he’s pretty much going to be BFFs with that woman. It recently happened with The Materialists and Dakota Johnson. It’s happening big-time with Vanessa Kirby, as they promote The Fantastic Four: First Steps around the world. Pedro plays Mister Fantastic, Vanessa plays Sue Storm. Joseph Quinn plays the Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Ben Grimm. To be fair, the whole cast seemingly gets along really well, but Vanessa and Pedro appear to have gotten quite close. They’re the two “leads” so I guess they’re being paired together for photoshoots, premieres, photocalls and the like. So, what’s the problem? People are worried about how Vanessa and Pedro are very handsy with one another.

Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby turned heads with their intimate moments on the “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” press tour. A fan took to X to share a compilation of videos of the co-stars getting handsy during several interviews for their forthcoming Marvel film. One clip showed the actress, who is engaged to Paul Rabil and pregnant, with her hand around the “Last Of Us” star’s shoulder as she caressed his face.

In another video, Kirby, 37, tenderly approached Pascal, 50, and embraced him on the side with her face nearly touching his cheek. A third clip showed the “Crown” star holding the actor’s hand while talking about “some of the best men in the world.”

Fans were confused by the duo’s touchy interactions, with one commenting, “Why is she rubbing him like that?”

“Actors are very touchy feely I’ll never understand it,” another chimed in. “this is crazy,” a third wrote, as a fourth agreed, “Very handsy.”

Others defended the friends, claiming that Pascal might “suffer from some type of anxiety disorder” and need “touch … to make him calm down and feel comfortable.”

“So she can’t be friends with her co star???” another added, as a fan wrote, “there’s nothing wrong here.”

Reps for Kirby and Pascal weren’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.

[From Page Six]

Pedro has never confirmed his sexuality in either direction, but seeing a heavily pregnant Vanessa Kirby clutch onto Pedro and watching them embrace, nuzzle and hold hands… well, it’s giving a certain dynamic. A healthy dynamic: the special kind of intimacy a woman can have with a man who makes her feel safe, where she doesn’t need to have her guard up. I honestly think it looks like Vanessa and Pedro are taking care of each other throughout what must be a grueling promotional tour – he’s known to be anxious in press conferences and the like, and Vanessa has been seen holding his hand (literally) and rubbing his arms reassuringly. In turn, I think she probably feels very safe around him during a vulnerable time (her pregnancy) and who wouldn’t want to feel Pedro’s arms around them?

The Pedro-investigators are also pulling up videos of Pedro with Sarah Paulson and claiming that he’s acting inappropriately towards her as well. People really don’t know the lore around Paulson and Pascal, I guess – they’ve been best friends for years and years (since before he was super-famous) and she’s a lesbian in a longtime partnership with Holland Taylor. Someone suggested that this whole “Pedro is bad for touching his female friends” thing has been started by TERFs who are mad about Pedro calling out JK Rowling. Could be. It definitely feels inorganic. When ScarJo and Jonathan Bailey were making out on every red carpet, people kept talking about how cute they were together. What’s different here?

Pedro Pascal and married co-star Vanessa Kirby on their Fantastic Four press tour 👀 pic.twitter.com/o9rP37TOAH

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) July 23, 2025

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.