Lainey Wilson cut her teeth with acting on Yellowstone, so it only makes sense that her role on the show would come with some firsts. For instance, when her character Abby locked lips with Ian Bohen’s dreamy cowboy, Ryan, it was her first onscreen kiss. Wilson recently opened up about the stress involved with the small screen smooch on Taste of Country’s Dutton Rules: A Yellowstone 1923 Podcast.
“He clearly knew this was my first rodeo and I knew it was not his,” Wilson explained on the podcast. Before their on-screen kiss, the singer-turned-actor was overwhelmed by all of the technical instructions. She wasn’t certain if they should arrange a plan or simply not mention it at all. “I did lay some ground rules. I was like, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do this, and don’t do this.’ And he was like, ‘Whatever makes you feel comfortable,’” Wilson recalled.
Despite Bohen’s professionalism, there was still one rule Wilson had to stress. “I was like, ‘Do not put your tongue in my mouth.’ I told him that. Do not do that,” she quipped. Bohen eagerly agreed, and the kiss felt sincere. Wilson confessed she had been quite anxious during filming; nevertheless, her fear never showed on camera. “[Bohen] made me so comfortable,” she continued. “It wasn’t like a real-life kiss.”
Bohen has become something of a groupie for his ‘Yellowstone’ costar Lainey Wilson
Since their initial meeting in Yellowstone, Bohen’s been present at a few of Wilson’s events, most recently the 2023 CMT Music Awards. In fact, he has become somewhat of an admirer of hers, and Wilson is all for it. “[Bohen’s] become a champion of mine and one of my biggest cheerleaders,” she explained. “He’s introduced my music to a lot of folks. He just really loves the music. He really does.”
However, fans of Wilson’s music need not worry about her quitting songwriting for acting. “I will never not make songwriting my priority because the songwriting is what has given me all the rest of these opportunities,” she told Us Weekly on the 2023 CMT Music Awards red carpet on Sunday.
On Sunday, the singer was a huge winner at the CMT Music Awards, picking up awards for Female Video of The Year and Collaborative Video of The Year. She also performed “Heart Like A Truck” and joined forces with other artists such as Alanis Morissette, Ingrid Andress, Madeline Edwards & Morgan Wade to create an unforgettable rendition of “You Oughta Know.”
“My heart is about to beat right out my chest, I’ll be honest with y’all,” Wilson said during her Female Video of the Year acceptance speech. “This song right here is about finding freedom and strength. It’s about not being afraid of the scratches and the dents and the bumps along the way. And we all got a story to tell, y’all, and I’m so proud of this music video. It was filmed, produced, written, and directed by all women.”