Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed a suit against Paramount for sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and fraud in late 2022, the BBC wrote. The actors, who are now in their 70s, allege that director Franco Zeffirelli guaranteed them that there would be no nudity in “Romeo and Juliet.” Hussey and Whiting claim that they were told they were going to wear nude undergarments for the now-infamous bedroom scene (via Variety). But it seems that Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, had a change of heart. He told the then-teenage actors on the day of filming that they had to act out the scene in the nude “or the picture would fail.”
Hussey and Whiting agreed to this but claim that they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge (via the BBC). The actors allege that this caused both their mental health and careers to suffer, according to Variety. Moreover, the actors blame Paramount for allowing the nude scene to transpire in the first place (per The New York Times). The lawsuit states that the production company “knew or should have known images of plaintiffs’ nude bodies were secretly and unlawfully obtained during the performance.” As a result, Hussey and Whiting are seeking more than $500 million in damages, AP News states.
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If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
