Leonard Whiting is seen for the first time since $500m lawsuit (2023)

Leonard Whiting has been seen for the first time since he launched a$500m lawsuit against Paramountfor 'forcing them' into a nude scene in 1968's Romeo and Juliet.

The actor, 72, who is rarely seen publicly, stepped out for a coffee in north London on Tuesday with his wife Lynn after news of the lawsuitcirculated earlier this month.

Leonard and Olivia Hussey, 71, who starred in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 movie, are suing Paramount over the nude scene they filmed when they were just 16 and 15 years old.

They filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court in California accusing Paramount Pictures of sexual harassment, fraud, sexual abuse, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Stepping out amid the lawsuit news, Leonard cut a casual figure in blue jeans and a striped black long sleeved T-shirt.

He bundled up amid the chilly temperatures with a yellow and blue patterned scarf and a black zip-up fleece, while he kept comfortable in black shoes.

Leonard was joined by his wife Lynn, who cut a stylish figure in patterned trousers and a red jumper.

She styled her ensemble with black slip-on shoes and a faux-fur coat and a matching scarf, while she wore an orange patterned face mask.

Lynn, who married Leonard back in 1995, clutched their pet pooch under one arm and carried her essentials in a black handbag for the outing.

It comes after it was revealed that Leonard and Olivia are suing Paramount Pictures over a nude scene they filmed in the 1968 movie Romeo and Juliet when they were 15 and 16 years old.

The pair have claimed that director Franco Zeffirelli originally told them there would not be any nudity in the film.

However, on the last day of filming, they claim he said the film 'would fail' unless they performed a scene nude while wearing body make-up.

'What they were told and what went on were two different things,' said Tony Marinozzi, a business manager for the actors, in a statement.

'They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had,' the manager said.

'Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do?' Marinozzi added in a statement to the outlet. 'There are no options. There was no #MeToo.'

The lawsuit alleges the pair were filmed nude without their knowledge and they are now seeking damages 'believed to be in excess of $500 million'.

The actors allegedly thought 'they had no choice but to act in the nude with body makeup as demanded on the last day of filming'.

The movie was released in 1968 to critical acclaim and earnedZeffirelli an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. He died in 2019 at the age of 96.

In a statement to Variety, Solomon Gresen, the attorney for the pair said the actors'were very young naïvechildren in the '60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them'.

They claimed the scene caused them long-term financial, physical, and emotional pain.

The film also cost them 'a lifetime of loss of earnings and other employment benefits and job opportunities,' according to the complaint.

'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,' Gresen said.

The $500million in damages the pair are seeking matches the amount the film has made since its release in 1968.

According to Variety, the actors' lawsuit relies on a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse claims.That law had a December 31, 2022, deadline.

Olivia continued to pursue acting and reunited with Zeffirelli to play Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the director's acclaimed 1977 mini-series Jesus Of Nazareth.

In an interview from 2018, she claimed Zeffirelli referred to her as 'Boobs O'Mina' and that he had admitted she was the unrequited love of his life.

At the time, Hussey also said she 'loved playing Juliet' but that the press was 'exhausting.'

Leonard also went on to have a career as an actor and singer.

Since the news of the $500million lawsuit, Zeffirelli's son said it was 'embarrassing' that Olivia and Leonardwaited 55 years to claim they'd spent their lives scarred by the film.

In a statement, Zeffirelli also said he felt the nudity in the film was not pornographic, and that his father was an outspoken critic of pornography.

'Zeffirelli himself was accused of being reactionary precisely because, over and over again, he spoke out against pornography,' he said.

'It is embarrassing to hear that today, 55 years after filming, two elderly actors who owe their notoriety essentially to this film wake up to declare that they have suffered an abuse that has caused them years of anxiety and emotional discomfort.'

'It appears to me that in all these years, they have always maintained a relationship of deep gratitude and friendship towards Zeffirelli, releasing hundreds of interviews about the happy memory of their very fortunate experience, which was crowned with worldwide success,' he said.