In the Earth-616 comics, Rogue's mutant power first manifested when she was kissed by a boy named Cody Robbins. This inadvertently put him in a coma from which he never recovered, causing her a great deal of guilt. For a decade or so afterwards (in-universe), she mostly avoided skin-to-skin contact with people in order to prevent such a thing from happening again.

ROGUE: Cody... his name was... is... Cody. We were just kids... friends... best friends... experimentin' with love... he kissed me. That's when I found out I was a mutant... my mind was flooded with his memories and he... he... he's been in a coma ever since that day.

Rogue Vol. 1 #1 (January, 1995)

In X-Men/Alpha Flight Vol. 1 #1 (December, 1985), Madelyne Pryor gained healing powers from a magical Fire Fountain created by Loki, and when she used them on Rogue, Rogue gained the ability to suppress her absorption power, as demonstrated when she made skin-to-skin contact with Northstar. However, Loki returned Rogue to her normal state in X-Men/Alpha Flight Vol. 1 #2 (January, 1986).

In Rogue's first appearance in Avengers Annual Vol. 1 #10 (October, 1981), she stole the powers of Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel and retained them for years afterwards, along with an imprint of Carol's psyche. In Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #239 (December, 1988), it was shown that when Carol's psyche was in control of Rogue's body, she could make skin-to-skin contact with Psylocke without absorbing anything from her.

Rogue and Gambit first met and kissed during the "Muir Island Saga" that began in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #278 (July, 1991), although the kiss was not acknowledged or shown on-panel until Rogue & Gambit Vol. 1 #2 (April, 2018). Rogue was under the psychic influence of the Shadow King at the time and, in that state, was able to make skin-to-skin contact with Gambit without absorbing anything from him.

In X-Men: Legacy Vol. 1 #224 (July, 2009), it was revealed that the incident with Cody Robbins caused the first of a series of partitions to form within Rogue's psyche, freezing the development of her mutant powers at a nascent stage. Professor X entered her mind in order to tear down the partitions and allow her mutant powers to progress to their mature stage. Later in the issue, she successfully tested her ability to suppress her absorption power by kissing Gambit on the lips.

DANGER: Fact: Rogue first used her powers involuntarily. Before they were fully formed. Before she could know--or control--what she was doing.

ROGUE: Cody Robbins.

PROFESSOR X: Exactly. And from that moment, Rogue, you were changed.

ROGUE: Changed how?

DANGER: Your mind was partitioned. Like the city of Berlin, after the Second World War, or like a hard drive when it's made to run two different operating systems. The boy's mind on one side of the wall. Yours on the other.

ROGUE: And Ms. Marvel?

PROFESSOR X: The same process again, but on a larger scale. Another partition. Another wall in your psyche. I think the effect of these partitions has been to paralyze the development of your powers. To freeze them in that nascent stage. They never developed as they were meant to develop. But now--

ROGUE: Professor, please. Don't make any more promises you can't keep.

PROFESSOR X: I'm not the man I was, Rogue. I promise nothing. But let me try.

ROGUE: Okay, then. Try.

PROFESSOR X: If the partitions in your mind are still here, they'll be visible to me. As discontinuities in the gradients of your memories. Polydimensional fracture points.

ROGUE: And if you find them? Then what?

PROFESSOR X: Then--for the most part--I tear them down. I reintegrate your mind so that your powers can progress--after a decade-long hiatus--to their mature stage.

X-Men: Legacy Vol. 1 #224 (July, 2009)

In Uncanny Avengers Vol. 1 #21, Rogue absorbed the powers of hundreds of superheroes, including Wonder Man, in order to defend the Earth from the Celestial, Exitar the Executioner. She was subsequently able to return most of the powers she'd borrowed, but Wonder Man remained trapped within her psyche, and shortly afterwards, she discovered that she'd lost her ability to suppress her absorption power.

ROGUE: No... that... shouldn't happen! I've learned to control it--

Uncanny Avengers Vol. 1 #23 (October, 2014)

In Mr. and Mrs. X #1, she married Gambit and made use of a power inhibitor collar in order to be able to safely to kiss him at their wedding and sleep with him afterwards. Later in the series, she came to the realisation that her inability to suppress her absorption power was always linked to fear, and that by learning to control her fear, she could regain the ability to suppress her absorption power. After that, she was shown kissing Gambit and lying naked in bed with him without the use of an inhibitor collar.

ROGUE: And then there was Gambit...always Gambit. Sometimes when I look at my life it just feels like this montage of our time together...something always getting in the way...usually me. Afraid of missing my last chance at happiness. But always pushing him away before he could push me away. Pretending I was always protecting him when really I was protecting me. So much trauma and pain, so much of it caused by me. Not by my powers but me. Always afraid. It was only when Shadow King had control of me on Muir Island when we first kissed that I was fine. But why? Because...I wasn't afraid? ...Is that right?

ROGUE: But that's crazy. I did get control. Xavier helped me knock down some of those walls and I got control...I only lost it when...Simon. When I absorbed Wonder Man...to help save the world. Why did that matter? What was different? When I absorbed Simon and then all the Avengers and so many X-Men. It's not like that was the most I'd ever absorbed. When I absorbed the Hecatomb it was millions of minds and..oh. Oh God. Was that it? Was I afraid that would happen again when I absorbed all those heroes? Absorbing the Hecatomb almost killed me...I absorbed Simon and I thought...in that moment I thought...it's all going to happen again. Yes, I can feel it now. I was afraid. I was looking at Simon and trying to be brave...to do the thing you have to do to save the day. But I was afraid like I hadn't been in a long time. And everything became twisted again. I lost it. Stuck with Simon the way I had been with Carol...was that...was that a crutch? Subconsciously? I didn't want to let them go? Something they had that I feared I lacked?

ROGUE: It means control was always possible, but we had to conquer our fear. Instead, we kept doubling down on it.

[...]

ROGUE: Well, no. It's not that simple. Fear doesn't ever go away. We're going to have to keep confronting it every day. We're going to have to get very good at controlling it. It's going to be exhausting...but it's the puzzle piece that we've always been missing. And now that we know...well, that's everything. Everything we've ever wanted. It's up to us and nobody else. Exactly as it should be.

Mr. and Mrs. X #9 (May, 2019)

As of X-Men Vol. 6 #35 (August, 2024), Rogue can still suppress her absorption power, as once again evidenced by her physical interactions with Gambit.