Warning: The article contains content that some readers may find upsetting
Brooke Shields has opened up about how her mother allowed her to star in intimate scenes as a child.
Over forty years on, the actor has discussed the controversial film in a new documentary about her life as a child actress.
The actor was just 11-years-old when she played Violet, an abused child forced into prostitution in 1978’s Pretty Baby.
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Shockingly, it’s not the only instance where Shields was highly sexualised at a young age. At just 14, the model starred in Blue Lagoon, which was about two cousins who fall in love after being shipwrecked on a beautiful island.
Despite barely being a teenager, Shields was forced to be partially nude for most of the film and admits that it would never ‘be allowed now’.
She recently said on her iHeartRadio podcast Now What?: “Never again will a movie be made like that," before revealing that filmmakers had tried to force her into an off-screen relationship with her then-18-year-old co-star, Christopher Atkins.
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“They wanted us so desperately to fall in love with each other,” Shields said, adding: “I did not react well being forced into feeling anything. I hadn’t even kissed anybody by that age.”
Looking back at her early career, the now-mom of two is horrified about what she was exposed to as a child.
The admission comes as Shields speaks about Pretty Baby in a new documentary which focuses on her playing a child prostitute at such a young age.
The Hulu documentary, called Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby, is about Shields as she ‘becomes a woman who discovers her power after being a sexualised young girl’, according to the synopsis.
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It will also look at the actress’s complicated relationship with her mother Teri, who allowed her to star in these films and pose for Playboy at 14.
She told filmmakers that it felt normal at the time but said: “I don’t know why she thought it was all right. I don’t know.”
After her mother died of dementia in 2021, Shields finally felt brave enough to speak about her experiences as a child in the entertainment industry.
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She even revealed that her co-star Keith Carradine tried to her that the adult scene were all ‘make-believe’ even though Shield had to kiss the then-27-year-old.
Upon hearing about the shocking scenes, Shield’s daughter Rowan is seen reacting angrily and telling her mother that it was ‘child pornography’.
“It’s child pornography! Would you have let us [do that] at the age of 11?" she asks Shields, who tearfully replies: "No."
Even Shields admits that she was ‘amazed’ that she ‘survived any of it’, but then stated that she ultimately went n to ‘find her voice’.
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Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby will be available to stream on Disney+ next month
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Katherine Sidnell