‘Romeo and Juliet’ stars sue for sexual abuse over 1968 film’s nude scene

The stars of the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet” are suing Paramount Pictures for at least $100 million over a nude scene filmed when they were teenagers, accusing the studio behind the Oscar-winning adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of sexual abuse.

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed a lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court that accuses Paramount of encouraging them to do a nude scene, even though the teens were allegedly previously reassured they would not have to be filmed naked. Hussey, 71, and Whiting, 72, were 15 and 16 at the time, respectively.

The suit was filed just ahead of a key deadline. A California law temporarily suspending the statute of limitations for older claims of child sexual abuse expired as 2022 came to a close, meaning people older than 40 could no longer sue for child sexual abuse in 2023.

The complaint states that after the English actors were initially told that they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene, director Franco Zeffirelli told them shortly before filming the scene that they would be wearing only body makeup and that the camera would not show any nudity. Zeffirelli, who died in 2019 and is not a defendant in the legal matter, told the teens that they had to act in the nude “or the Picture would fail” and their film careers would suffer, according to the lawsuit.

Despite previous reassurances that the film would not show them nude, scenes in which Whiting’s buttocks and Hussey’s breasts are clearly visible made the final cut of the film without their knowledge, the complaint states. The lawsuit claims Paramount violated California and federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children.

“Defendants were dishonest and secretly filmed the nude or partially nude minor children without their knowledge, in violation of the state and federal laws regulating said child sexual abuse and exploitation,” the filing states. “Plaintiffs have suffered and will continue to suffer physical pain and mental pain along with extreme and severe mental anguish and emotional distress.”

Tony Marinozzi, the manager for both Hussey and Whiting, told the Washington Post that his clients are seeking damages of $100 million due to the emotional and mental anguish that the actors claim they suffered for more than a half-century as a result of how they were treated following the nude scene. The number could be higher, according to the complaint. Solomon Gresen, an attorney for the actors, told the Post that the $100 million is for punitive damages. “We believe the film earned $500 million,” he said.

“We’re going to make them accountable,” Marinozzi said to The Post. “We want them to just be transparent.”

Paramount representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday. Gresen said in a statement to the BBC that “nude images of minors are unlawful and shouldn’t be exhibited.”

“These were very young, naive children in the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them,” he said. “All of a sudden they were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition they were violated in a way they didn’t know how to deal with.”

The scene in question takes place in the third act of the film, the morning after Romeo and Juliet’s secret wedding night. As Romeo is naked face down, the camera pans down to show Whiting’s bare buttocks for about 10 seconds. Additional shots of Whiting’s bare behind from the same scene are also used in the movie. Though the sheets cover Juliet’s breasts, the end of the scene briefly shows Hussey’s bare breasts.

“Plaintiffs believed they had no choice to act in the nude with body makeup as demanded on the last days of filming,” the lawsuit reads.

The 1968 adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” was a box-office hit, in part because of the headlines the film generated from the nude scene with the teen stars. The film, which has been studied by actors for years, was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won two for Best Cinematography and Costume Design. The movie also served as what appeared to be the breakthrough roles for Hussey and Whiting, who won Golden Globe Awards for their performances.

Yet the actors could only find limited work after appearing nude in the film, the lawsuit claims. They were featured in bit roles for decades and eventually reunited on-screen for the first time in “Social Suicide,” a 2015 British psychological thriller.

Hussey has previously defended the nude scene, telling Variety in 2018 that the scene “was needed” for the film. In a separate interview with Fox News that same year, she recalled how in the middle of the shoot she “just completely forgot I didn’t have clothes on.”

“In Europe, it was very different,” Hussey said to Variety during the 50th anniversary of the film’s release. “In America, it was very taboo. But in Europe a lot of the films had nudity. Nobody really thought much of it. But it was just the fact that I was 16 that got a lot of publicity.” She added, “Nobody my age had done that before.”

But with the rise of the #MeToo movement, new attention is being paid to historical abuses in culture – and the “Romeo and Juliet” stars have a different view of their shared history through a modern lens. Marinozzi said the issue was revisited by the actors in 2021, when representatives for country singer Kacey Musgraves reached out to the manager to get permission to use a “Romeo and Juliet” clip of Hussey in a music video featured on the album “Star-Crossed.” In a follow-up conversation, Marinozzi said Musgraves’s team indicated to him that they were forced to pay Paramount “this huge number to use Olivia’s likeness from the film.”

“I thought about what [Paramount] has done to these two and not pay them a dime, I thought it was a little strange,” Marinozzi told The Post. “I said to them, ‘You’re still earning for them, and you’re getting nothing.’”

The lawsuit filed by the stars is among a series of new legal actions that were filed in California against organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church before the statute of limitations expired. The expiration has also prompted plaintiffs to refile many other cases that were previously dismissed, according to the Associated Press.

Marinozzi, who has worked with Hussey since October 2020 and Whiting since February, emphasized that the lawsuit is about “getting closure so they can get on with their lives.”

“It sounds cliche, but at 71 and 72, it truly is about closure for them,” he said. “They have a chance now to put this problem with Paramount, one way or another, to bed.”