Brooke Shields reveals she was raped in documentary 'Pretty Baby'
By Theresa Braine
Brooke Shields was raped in her 20s, she revealed in a new documentary about her life.
It is by now a sadly familiar story. A friend in the business took her to dinner, purportedly to discuss a possible movie. The onetime child star, fresh out of college, was looking to move forward in her career.
"I thought it was a work meeting," Shields said in "Pretty Baby," according to USA Today. "I had met this person before and he was always nice to me."
Brooke Shields, the subject of the documentary film "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields," poses at the premiere of the film at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
But movie talk quickly fell by the wayside, and the unnamed man's behavior abruptly changed. Afterwards, he insisted she call a cab from his hotel rather than the restaurant, but when she went upstairs to wait for the ride, he forced himself on her, ignoring her "no" and her attempts to break free.
"I just absolutely froze," Shields said. "I just thought, 'Stay alive and get out.'"
Decades and years of therapy later, Shields is finally able to talk publicly about it at age 57, saying she wants to advocate for others struggling to get past similar issues. The documentary "Pretty Baby," named after her first movie, premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival and will stream later this year on Hulu.
Shields was famously sexualized as a child and teen — first, at age 11, playing a young sex worker in "Pretty Baby," which included a kissing scene with Keith Carradine, then 29. Four years later she shot "Blue Lagoon," and then at 16, it was "Endless Love." Shields was also 16 when a photographer who was also a family friend won the right, in court, to sell nude photos he'd taken of her when she was 9.
Throughout, Shields was simultaneously lauded for her sensuality and shamed for what the patriarchal public deemed exhibitionism.
"I did not know if or when or if at all I was ever going to bring this up," the actress and model-turned-entrepreneur told People about the 1987 assault. "It has taken me many years of therapy to even be able to talk about it. I definitely have worked very hard through it, and I've learned to process it."
With News Wire Services