Brooke Shields’ latest documentary, “Pretty Baby,” made waves at the Sundance Film Festival after revealing her sexual abuse story. The entertainment industry was shocked by explosive allegations from actress and model Brooke Shields, who has accused a high-ranking Hollywood executive of sexually assaulting her early in her career.
Shields did not name the executive in her accusation. She rose to fame as a child star in the 1980s and has become an iconic figure in film and fashion. However, she provided details of the alleged assault and the context in which it occurred.
The first teaser for Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby was released on Wednesday morning, and the Hulu premiere date is April 3rd, 2023.
Shields said in a new interview that a powerful Hollywood executive attacked her more than 30 years ago. Shields said, “It’s taken me a long time to process it. I’m more angry now than I was able to be then. If you’re afraid, you’re rightfully so. They are scary situations. They don’t have to be violent to be scary.”
Shields said she never went public about the sexual assault until her new documentary “Pretty Baby” because she thought “no one will believe me.” adding, “People weren’t believing those stories back then. I thought I would never work again.”
Apart from Gavin de Becker, her close friend, and a former security consultant was the only person she told. “Brooke lived so long in the judgment of others, by the millions, so it was heartbreaking to see her judge herself,” he says. “It has also been inspiring to see her integrate the truth as she has.”
The sexual assault happened when her career was at its worst. She was a fresh graduate of Princeton University and set up a meeting with a Hollywood executive. A business dinner was the format for the meeting. Shields said, “I thought I was getting a movie and a job.”
At the end of the dinner, the Hollywood executive took her back to his hotel room and attacked her there. “I didn’t fight,” Shields said. “I just froze,” she said. After the attack, she blamed herself.
“I kept saying, ‘I shouldn’t have done that. Why did I go up with him? I shouldn’t have had that drink at dinner,’” Shields said. “It was really easy to disassociate because, by then it was old hat,” she recalls. “And because it was a fight-or-flight type of choice. The fight was not an option, so you just left your body. ‘You’re not there. It didn’t happen.’
Want to know more about sexual allegations that different actresses have highlighted? Let us know!
Shields’ statement comes amid allegations against powerful men in the entertainment industry, from Harvey Weinstein to Kevin Spacey to Bill Cosby. The #MeToo movement, which started in 2017 as a way of raising awareness about sexual harassment and assault, has galvanized women across the globe to speak out about their experiences.
Shields began her career as a child model. At age 12, when she played a young prostitute in the movie “Pretty Baby,” she became famous. Three years later, she caused a stir when she spoke the controversial statement, “Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” As part of a provocative advertising campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans.
Shields was in the romantic movie dramas “Blue Lagoon” and “Endless Love” around the same time, in 1980 and 1981. This added to the idea of Shields as a sexual person as a teenager. She took a break from her career to go to Princeton University. She returned in the 1990s and had roles on TV and Broadway, including starring in “Suddenly Susan” and “The L Word.”
Shields talks about her first experiences in Hollywood for the first time in her two-part documentary, which we call “fascinating” and “fulfilling.” The movie shows how she went from being a child model for ads to being sexualized in movies, starting with “Pretty Baby” when she was 12 and continuing with “The Blue Lagoon” when she was 15. (1980).
