Madeleine West ensures there’s a strict “no nudity” clause in her contracts, and yet she’s revealed that after appearing in a love scene, she discovered there were not one, not two, but EIGHT separate shots of her breasts covertly filmed without her knowledge.
Describing her experiences in an article for news.com.au, the former Neighbours actress and parenting book author, who had believed she’d only have her exposed back filmed, says she felt bamboozled. When she protested, West says the powers that be made some laughable denials as they tried to pressure her into leaving the scene as is.
The project's producer is said to have uttered: “But ... are you suuure that is a breast?”
""Errrm, Yeeessss” I replied in quiet disbelief. “That’s an areola right there,"" the 37-year-0ld writes.
The unnamed producer was said to go on to describe the shots as "pretty ambiguous," before four other producers, a network representative and publicist "assembled before her" to persuade her to go ahead.
Further excuses flowed, she says, including: "That’s not a breast,” “That angle shifts so quickly, no one will even notice it," and "the breast will be covered by subtitles".
West fought for her rights, and eventually the scene was removed from the project, which West does not name.
But she concluded that too often actresses are made to feel they must,"comply with things that go against our beliefs and contravene our right". She's now speaking out to break that cycle.
West is well known for her role as Dee Bliss on Neighbours but in recent years has been focused on raising her adorable brood. She is a mother of six children and has detailed her experiences of motherhood in her parenting book, Six Under Eight.