Romeo and Juliet stars sue Paramount over nude scene in 1968 film

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting.
(Image credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, the stars of 1968's Romeo and Juliet, are suing Paramount for sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and fraud.

The suit was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Now in their early 70s, Hussey and Whiting were 15 and 16 when they filmed Romeo and Juliet. The suit alleges that director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, told them they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene, but at the last minute asked them to wear body makeup instead, saying he would film them in a way that did not show nudity. In the movie, Whiting's buttocks and Hussey's breasts are seen.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.