The eternal Juliet of 'Romeo and Juliet,' the late Olivia Hussey (Hasse), is again drawing public attention with an interview video of her smoking at age 15.
On the 14th, KBS 2TV's Celebrity Soldier's Secret revisited Hollywood top stars' battles with breast cancer and reexamined Olivia Hussey's tumultuous life story.
Olivia Hussey captivated the world at the young age of 15 by appearing in the film 'Romeo and Juliet' (1968), but despite being a minor she frequently smoked and drank, earning the label "Britain's representative delinquent youth."
During the broadcast an interview video from the time was released. He said he started smoking at 14, and when the reporter asked, "What do your parents think?" he replied, "My mother would tell me to stop, but I'll smoke behind her back," surprising the cast.
Jang Doyoun reacted in shock, saying, "It looks fake. I thought it was theater," and Park Eun-hye clicked her tongue, saying, "These days saying things like that would be a big problem."
But it was adults who gave a 15-year-old girl a cigarette. Park Kyunghwa, professor of medical oncology at Korea University Anam Hospital, said, "My heart aches thinking about who created an environment where a 15-year-old girl had no choice but to smoke and drink," pointing out that adults opened the girl's world too early and expressing regret.
During the filming of 'Romeo and Juliet,' Olivia Hussey was sexually harassed by director Franco Zeffirelli, who called her "My Lovely Little Breasts." MC Lee Chan-won said in shock, "This is something that could never happen today. It's clear sexual harassment."
Also, production officials at the time brought Hussey to hospitals or forced her to take diet pills, saying, "You need to lose more weight." As a result, he suffered tremors and lethargy and eventually developed agoraphobia. He once confessed that during a royal performance in Britain he was overwhelmed by anxiety and had a urinary accident.
As an adult, Olivia Hussey went through two marriages and divorces, and in 1993 she remarried musician David Eisley, finally finding stability.
However, after feeling something wrong with her breast in 2007 and visiting a hospital, she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer the following year. After bilateral mastectomy she was declared cured, but the cancer recurred in 2018 and she passed away at age 73 in December last year.
Meanwhile, in 2023 Olivia Hussey sued Paramount Pictures, the production company of the film 'Romeo and Juliet,' along with Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo, accusing them of sexual harassment, fraud, sexual abuse and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $500 million (Hanwha 738 billion won) in damages.
[Photo] Video capture, film still
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