Olivia Hussey first became a movie star at the age of 15 when she was cast as the most infamous doomed lover in 1968’s “Romeo and Juliet” — and she’s still amazed she’s still around 50 years later.

The 67-year-old just published “Girl on the Balcony,” a book chronicling her numerous ups and downs in Hollywood.

Hussey landed the coveted part of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s film, which went on to become a worldwide success.

“It was actually very overwhelming,” Hussey told Fox News. “Even when we were shooting, we had reporters waiting for an interview during our lunch and tea breaks. And they had come from all over the world.”

“I celebrated my 16th birthday during shooting… When the film was released, we traveled all over the world and I couldn’t really spend my teenage years like other teenagers… Everyone would come up to us for a photo, an autograph. But it was the experience of a lifetime really.”

Even before it was released in theaters, the film made headlines. Hussey, who was 16 at the time, stripped down for a love scene representing her wedding night with co-star Leonard Whiting [Romeo], who was also 16 at the time.

Hussey stated she felt at ease on set, despite the fact that she was visibly topless in the epic drama.

“I think because it was done very tastefully,” she explained. “And in Europe, it was very different. 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… The large crew we worked with was whittled down to only the very basic people, a handful of people. It was done later in the day when it wasn’t busy. It was a closed set…

“If you see it, the reality is these two young kids married against their parents’ wishes and have this one night together and then they die… And it wasn’t really banned in any country… And we shot it at the very end of the film. So by that time… we’ve all become a big family… It wasn’t that big of a deal. And Leonard wasn’t shy at all! In the middle of shooting, I just completely forgot I didn’t have clothes on.”

Hussy said that she and Whiting, who is now 68 years old, were drawn to one other. They dated for a while, but the relationship didn’t last long. They stayed friends for life and still email each other “at least once every 10 days.”

Olivia Hussey: I was raped in Charles Manson murder home

July 25, 2018.

Olivia Hussey
WireImage

It’s been 50 years since Olivia Hussey rose to prominence as Juliet in 1968’s Romeo and Juliet, and now the iconic actress is sharing her recollections, both joyous and tragic, in a new book called The Girl on the Balcony.

Actor Christopher Jones, she claims, assaulted and raped her at the home where Sharon Tate was killed.

Hussey, now 67, and Jones began dating in the late 1960s, but she alleges that he began assaulting her shortly after she portrayed Juliet on the big screen in the late 1960s.

‘We were talking and his eyes glazed over and he punched me in the stomach,’ she said.

‘I was young, and I loved him. I was very loyal.’

Hussey said that she met Tate not long after, in 1969, while she was pregnant and rented the house of Hussey’s agent Rudi Altobelli. Hussey intended to move into Altobelli’s guest home and assist Tate with her newborn. But soon after, she received word that Tate and four other people had been slain while Altobelli was abroad.

“I’ll never forget Rudi telling me,” Hussey remarked. “He said, ‘They’re all dead.’ It was terrible.” Hussey, though, moved into the house alone after splitting up with Jones barely five weeks later.

“People would say, ‘How could you live there?’” she says. “I’d say, ‘In England, most of the houses have horrible memories. It’s not that big of a deal.’”

She told People, “All I felt was Sharon’s vibration. And it was lovely. She’d left an orange scarf and I kept it on my prayer table for years.”

Hussey, on the other hand, has yet to have his own horror.

Hussey detailed the moment Jones arrived at the house and savagely raped her inside her bedroom in her new book.

“I didn’t know if he was going to kill me,” Hussey said. “My face was like a balloon. I had a bloody nose, my lip was split open and I had a black eye. It was terrifying.”

Hussey said she found out she was pregnant a few weeks later but chose to abort the pregnancy.

‘I decided I could not have the baby. It broke my heart… although I have never regretted it,’ she explained.

Jones died in 2014, after Hussey had only notified a few close friends and family members about the rape.

Nonetheless, Hussey now claims that the silver lining was falling in love with Dean Paul Martin, the son of singer Dean Martin.

Hussey adds, “I fell for him because of the way he treated me and took care of me.” Alex, the couple’s 45-year-old son, was born in 1971. They broke up in 1979, but stayed close until his death in an aircraft crash in 1987.