From the first time a mainstream actress appeared nude on screen in 1963 to more recent films, these moments have continued to stir strong reactions. Some scenes shocked audiences with how explicit they were, while others sparked larger conversations around gender, consent, and changing ideas about what’s considered acceptable sexual content. These scenes didn’t just push limits — they made people question them.
Brooke Shields Was Deeply Scarred By The Experience Of Filming Underage Nude Scenes In ‘Pretty Baby’ And ‘The Blue Lagoon’
The Scenes: In Pretty Baby, 11-year-old Brooke Shields played Violet, a child growing up in a brothel with her mother. One scene involved her virginity being auctioned to a group of middle-aged men. Three years later, she starred in Blue Lagoon alongside 18-year-old Christopher Atkins. The role required her to appear nude as her character falls in love with her cousin.
The Controversy: These early roles helped launch Shields into fame, but they came at a cost. Many people felt she was far too young to be placed in such adult situations, especially involving nudity. As an adult, Shields has said she agrees. She’s opened up about how being sexualized at such a young age left her with emotional scars that followed her for years. In an interview with Drew Barrymore, Shields shared:
“It was about these [male directors] needing me to be in a certain category to serve their story, and it never was about me… It was never protective of me. It was fun and loving at times, but I was just there. I was a pawn…”
She expanded on this during a conversation on NPR’s Fresh Air:
“You know, I think a lot of the movies I made could have been better. But then again, you know, I’d also have to say that it didn’t matter because I wanted to be liked more than I was worried about really delivering a master performance. Plus, I wanted to really ensure that there was no crossover into my own life…”
“So I made faces, and I had – like, the minute a scene would be over, I would stick my tongue out or I would just constantly break character because I didn’t want to – I wanted to remain my personal self at the same time. And, you know, that was a form of self-protection and preservation…”
“So I kept disassociating from all of it. You know, I just compartmentalized. And – you know, and I think that was just my way of keeping steady. And I don’t know how I knew that. I think it was instinctual. And I also think it has a lot to do with being a child of an alcoholic. You know, you get very, very controlling in what you can control because there’s so much you can’t control. And as a child, you know, you need to keep your loved one alive, and so it takes such precedence over everything that I – you know, I became, like, a neat freak and kind of OCD and really organized. And I kept my environment very controlled, you know?”
Salma Hayek Alleges That Harvey Weinstein Forced Her To Appear Fully Nude In ‘Frida’ As Retaliation For Rejecting His Advances
The Scene: Frida is a biopic about artist Frida Kahlo, filled with moments of intimacy and sensuality. One particular scene shows Salma Hayek, as Frida, fully nude while kissing and caressing another woman, played by Karine Plantadit-Bageot.
The Controversy: For Hayek, this was the first time she had to appear completely nude in a film. The scene itself didn’t cause much controversy at the time. But during the rise of the #MeToo movement, Hayek revealed in a New York Times piece that she had been pressured into filming it. She said Harvey Weinstein forced her to do the scene after she rejected his repeated advances. He allegedly threatened to remove her from the film. Because Frida was something Hayek had spent years developing, she felt she had no other option but to comply in order to keep the film alive:
“In my naïveté, I thought my dream had come true. He (Weinstein) had validated the last 14 years of my life. He had taken a chance on me – a nobody. He had said yes.”
“Little did I know it would become my turn to say no.”
“No to opening the door to him at all hours of the night, hotel after hotel, location after location, where he would show up unexpectedly, including one location where I was doing a movie he wasn’t even involved with…”
“And with every refusal came Harvey’s Machiavellian rage… The range of his persuasion tactics went from sweet-talking me to that one time when, in an attack of fury, he said the terrifying words, ‘I will kill you, don’t think I can’t.’..”
“The only thing he noticed was that I was not sexy in the movie. He made me doubt if I was any good as an actress, but he never succeeded in making me think that the film was not worth making… He offered me one option to continue. He would let me finish the film if I agreed to do a sex scene with another woman. And he demanded full-frontal nudity.”
“He had been constantly asking for more skin, for more sex… But this time, it was clear to me he would never let me finish this movie without him having his fantasy one way or another. There was no room for negotiation.”
“I had to say yes. By now so many years of my life had gone into this film. We were about five weeks into shooting, and I had convinced so many talented people to participate. How could I let their magnificent work go to waste?…”
“My mind understood that I had to do it, but my body wouldn’t stop crying and convulsing. At that point, I started throwing up while a set frozen still waited to shoot. I had to take a tranquilizer, which eventually stopped the crying but made the vomiting worse. As you can imagine, this was not sexy, but it was the only way I could get through the scene.”
Thora Birch Was Underage When Filming ‘American Beauty,’ And Had Both Of Her Parents On Set To Supervise A Topless Scene
The Scene: In the film American Beauty, the character Jane (played by Thora Birch) has a scene where she removes her top and reveals her breasts to her neighbor Ricky, who secretly films her from his window.
The Controversy: At the time of filming, Birch was only 17 years old. Many felt uncomfortable that a minor was shown topless, even if the scene was fictional. Birch later shared that her parents supported her choice to take on the role, but there were strict rules. Her father and child labor officials had to be present throughout the filming of that scene:
“They weren’t jumping up and down [with joy over the scene]… [It was] definitely a nerve wrecking moment… [Jane is more] vulnerable [than] sexual… It made sense. It wasn’t something that shouldn’t be in there. It’s something that would happen.”
Jason Biggs Admits The ‘American Pie’ Webcam Scene Couldn’t And ‘Shouldn’t’ Be Done Now
The Scene: In American Pie, Jim (played by Jason Biggs) invites Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) to his place to study, then secretly sets up a webcam to record her as she changes. He shares the stream with his friends, but the feed ends up being seen by the entire school. While Nadia is expelled, Jim faces no real consequences.
The Controversy: Back when it was released, the scene was mostly treated as comedy. But today, it’s seen in a different light. Issues of consent, digital privacy, and the way women were often blamed in films are now at the forefront. Biggs himself has admitted that the scene wouldn’t be acceptable in today’s world:
“That movie was a quarter of a century ago when we made it, and it’s a time capsule of that period, as most movies are. Here’s how much my own thinking has changed: When I read that script, I remember that scene standing out to me because of the camera. I was like, ‘Computers have cameras?’ I didn’t even own a computer at that time, so the idea that you could put a camera on one was just mind-boggling. And now, of course, we have cameras in our hands all the times on our phones.”
“But yeah, that particular scene and the content of that scene could not be done now and it shouldn’t be done now. It reflects the progress that we’ve made as a society in the last 25 years that we now think, ‘That’s inappropriate.’ It is and it should be, but the movie stands as its own little time capsule – it’s a reflection of the times that we lived in, as most things are. I’m so proud of the movie, and very lucky that I got to be a part of it. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.”
The Teen Stars Of Franco Zeffirelli’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Sued Paramount Years Later For The Exploitive Ways They Were Coerced Into Appearing Nude
The Scene: The 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, includes a scene where Romeo and Juliet are seen cuddling nude in bed, implying they’ve just made love. Olivia Hussey’s bare breasts are briefly visible as she gets up to put on her gown.
The Controversy: Olivia Hussey was only 15 when she filmed that scene. She and co-star Leonard Whiting later claimed that they weren’t told about the nudity until the day it was shot. Zeffirelli allegedly reassured Hussey that nothing private would be shown. But when she saw the film for the first time — during a royal premiere — she realized otherwise.
The experience left a lasting impact. Hussey developed an eating disorder from the shame she felt. Though the film made Zeffirelli rich, the two young actors were paid very little. Years later, when Hussey asked Paramount to use a photo from the film for her memoir, they asked her for $10,000. In response, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount, claiming $500 million in damages and citing child sexual abuse based on the nude scene.
‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Was Filmed Under Such Secrecy, Ridiculous Rumors Spread About What REALLY Happens Between Tom Cruise And Nicole Kidman
The Scene: Eyes Wide Shut, released in 1999, stars then-married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The film includes a controversial sex scene that Warner Bros. had to digitally censor to avoid an NC-17 rating. The movie centers on a married couple dealing with jealousy and temptation. Director Stanley Kubrick pushed the actors hard, encouraging them to bring their real emotions to the screen. He kept them separated during filming and had them confront their deepest fears to heighten the realism of their performances.
The Controversy: The secrecy around the film led to all sorts of rumors — some even believed it ruined Cruise and Kidman’s real-life marriage. While that wasn’t the case, both actors admitted the emotional toll was heavy, and they had trouble separating real life from the film. Kidman later said:
“Tom would hear things that he didn’t want to hear… It wasn’t like therapy, because you didn’t have anyone to say, ‘And how do you feel about that?’ It was honest, and brutally honest at times… As an actor, you set up: there’s reality, and there’s pretend, and those lines get crossed, and it happens when you’re working with a director that allows that to happen. It’s a very exciting thing to happen; it’s a very dangerous thing to happen.”
According to Vanity Fair, Kubrick took it even further by having Kidman film an extended sex scene with a male model over six days — and Cruise wasn’t allowed on set. She was also told not to discuss it with him. Kubrick reportedly made Cruise walk through a door 95 times for one scene. Cruise ended up with an ulcer. While he has defended the film, Cruise later shared:
“I didn’t like playing Dr. Bill. I didn’t like him. It was unpleasant… But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn’t done this.”
The Blowback Against ‘Showgirls’ – And Elizabeth Berkley’s Nude Scenes – Essentially Ended Studios’ Attempts To Make NC-17 Films
The Scene: Showgirls was designed to push every boundary around sex and nudity. Director Paul Verhoeven and writer Joe Eszterhas deliberately aimed for an NC-17 rating. The story follows Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley), a young woman trying to make it as a topless dancer in Las Vegas. While there are multiple scenes where Berkley appears nude, one involving her best friend being assaulted stood out as especially disturbing.
The Controversy: The film’s graphic sexual content didn’t sit well with audiences or critics. It flopped at the box office and severely hurt Berkley’s career. Many couldn’t move past the over-the-top portrayal of her character and the chaotic, sometimes strange plot. MGM went ahead with the NC-17 rating, knowing it would limit the film’s distribution. That gamble didn’t pay off. Years later, Verhoeven defended his bold creative decisions, saying:
“bimbo”
“I asked Elizabeth to do all that – to be abrupt and to act in that way, but people have been attacking her about for that ever since… We were making a film that was hyperbolic and an exaggeration and so my intention was always to use a style that was exaggerated in everything. Still to this day it is widely considered a bad movie, but I think that’s because people still don’t understand it. I used exaggerated nudity, colors, and movement. I was trying to make it as exaggerated as Las Vegas is in real life. That is why the musical numbers are as bad as they are – I purposely tried not to make good music in those scenes, but obviously that turned out to be a big mistake.”
David Cronenberg’s ‘Crash’ Was Savaged By The Press, Critics, And Even Other Filmmakers For Its ‘Depravity’
The Scene: Based on the 1973 novel by J.G. Ballard, Crash follows an open-marriage couple, Catherine and James Ballard (played by Deborah Kara Unger and James Spader), who meet a man named Vaughan (Elias Koteas) after a car crash. Vaughan gets aroused only by witnessing or staging real car accidents. His extreme obsession pulls others into a dark world of twisted desire.
The Controversy: The movie’s disturbing and graphic content shocked many. Some critics didn’t hold back in their condemnation. One, Alexander Walker, described it like this:
“[It’s] p*rnography… [with] some of the most perverted acts and theories of sexual deviance I have ever seen propagated in mainline cinema… [It’s] beyond the bounds of depravity.”
Producer Jeremy Thomas recalled what happened when the film premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival:
“We’d heard that [jury president Francis Ford] Coppola didn’t like the film from the morning screening… We had a press conference and all was revealed: that Alexander Walker and a coterie of UK critics saw an opportunity for an incredible story involving J.G. Ballard, David Cronenberg and myself. I think I may have been chair of the BFI at the time… Alexander Walker was waving a newspaper, shouting from the back, ‘Travesty! It’s outrageous!’ And then it got on the front page of the Daily Mail, every day. They were at my front door. At one point I was in the Isle of Man with Philip Noyce, sat in the pub, and I had people saying, ‘They should be strung up!’ Waving a Mail saying ‘Don’t buy Sony products.’…”
“It was a moment of shame… and a complete curveball to me. It was only in the UK. Except in America, where it was censored by its own owners. It was owned by New Line, and then it was bought by Ted Turner, who was a puritan. He couldn’t see the funny side of Crash. We got reports that he nearly choked when he was watching it on his ranch with Jane Fonda.”
The ’60s Comedy ‘Promises! Promises!’ Loudly Touted Jayne Mansfield Appearing Nude, Getting The Film Banned In Some Cities
The Scene: Released in 1963, Promises! Promises! was a comedy that featured Jayne Mansfield in the nude — making her the first mainstream actress to do so on screen. She appeared nude in three different scenes, which were repeated throughout the film as dream sequences.
The Controversy: This was before the MPAA rating system existed, so Mansfield’s nudity caught audiences completely off guard. The filmmakers leaned into the scandal for publicity. They sent behind-the-scenes photos to Playboy and advertised that viewers would get to see “all of Jayne Mansfield” on movie posters. The film ended up being banned in several cities, and Hugh Hefner was even arrested in Chicago on obscenity charges after publishing the images in his magazine.
Eventually, the film was heavily edited for later releases, with obvious cuts where Mansfield’s nudity had been removed.
The Most Controversial Scene In ‘Last Tango in Paris’ Wasn’t In The Script, And Was Sprung On Maria Schneider The Day Of Filming
The Scene: Last Tango in Paris, released in 1972, featured a scene where a young woman is sexually assaulted by an older man. The act is clearly non-consensual, and it deeply disturbed many viewers.
The Controversy: Maria Schneider, who played the woman, later revealed that she already had doubts about the film before shooting began. But she was especially devastated when the now-infamous scene was suddenly added — it hadn’t been in the script. She said she felt completely humiliated after it was filmed:
“They said, ‘You’re crazy, you have the main part with Marlon Brando!’ But I had the feeling that, you know, I would have some problems afterwards. The humiliation was very strong. Marlon said he felt raped and manipulated by it and he was 48. And he was Marlon Brando!…”
“So I did the scene and I cried. I cried real tears during that scene. I was feeling humiliation… Last Tango was a lot of suffering, a lot of compromising. I only understood what the movie was about many years later. It stands because it’s Marlon and me and because it’s 1970s, but somehow it’s aged a little, it’s kitsch… I think [director] [Bernardo] Bertolucci’s not a real maestro… He was manipulating everyone on set. I’m not friends with him.”
‘Sleepaway Camp’ Includes A Final-Scene Reveal That Horror Fans Still Debate Today
The Scene: At the end of Sleepaway Camp, after a series of gruesome camp murders, the killer is revealed to be Angela (Felissa Rose). Covered in blood and standing naked, Angela exposes her true identity. In a flashback, we learn she was forced to live as a girl by her aunt after suffering family trauma.
The Controversy: The movie’s shocking ending has sparked debate since its 1983 release. Some believe the twist is offensive toward the transgender community and reinforces outdated stereotypes. Others feel the film was ahead of its time, opening up difficult conversations about gender, identity, and how trauma can shape a person.
Felissa Rose, who played Angela, considers the character a trans icon and believes Angela’s story should be met with understanding and care:
“I feel like I raised her over these 40 years… I’m protective. I care for her… She was like myself: a young person wanting to kiss someone, wanting to be around other people, wanting to feel comfortable in her skin and find the core of who she truly, authentically, was. In navigating this world today, I look back and I see someone strong and someone I look up to. I look at the character as someone who dealt with a lot and I feel empowered by her and I admire her for having gone through all that she did…”
“I absolutely don’t feel like it’s transphobic. I feel as though Angela was a typical adolescent trying to find her gender identification and sexual orientation and I thought that was extremely exciting for 1982. It was ahead of its time. You can see with her father and his lover as well as her relationship with Paul [her camp crush], who she was trying to understand her relationship with, I feel like it was an adolescent story of a young person coming of age, with all of the murders on the side… “
Sharon Stone Didn’t Know Her Controversial ‘Basic Instinct’ Scene Would Show What It Did
The Scene: In Basic Instinct, Catherine Tramell (played by Sharon Stone) is questioned by police in an intense interrogation scene. As the detectives grow frustrated with her cryptic answers, she becomes more provocative. At one moment, she uncrosses her legs, revealing her bare genitals — a moment that shocked audiences everywhere.
The Controversy: Even Sharon Stone was surprised by what ended up in the final film. While shooting the scene, she was told to remove her underwear so the light wouldn’t reflect off the fabric — and was assured that nothing would be visible on camera. But when she finally saw the finished movie, it became clear that wasn’t the case. In her memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, she explains:
“After we shot Basic Instinct, I got called in to see it. Not on my own with the director… but with a room full of agents and lawyers, most of whom had nothing to do with the project. That was how I saw… [the scene] for the first time, long after I’d been told, ‘We can’t see anything – I just need you to remove your panties, as the white is reflecting the light, so we know you have panties on.’ Yes, there have been many points of view on this topic, but since I’m the one with the vagina in question, let me say: The other points of view are bullsh*t…”
“It was me and my parts up there. I had decisions to make. I went to the projection booth, slapped [director] Paul [Verhoeven] across the face, left, went to my car, and called my lawyer, Marty Singer. Marty told me that they could not release this film as it was… it wasn’t legal to shoot up my dress in this fashion. Whew, I thought…”
“After the screening, I let Paul know of the options Marty had laid out for me. Of course, he vehemently denied that I had any choices at all. I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could I have? But I did have choices. So I thought and thought and I chose to allow this scene in the film. Why? Because it was correct for the film and for the character; and because, after all, I did it.”
