Blue Lagoon star opens up about 'overwhelming' fame after controversial Brooke Shields movie

Christopher Atkins has revealed that his breakout role in The Blue Lagoon left him completely unprepared for the fame that followed, admitting things got 'overwhelming' almost overnight.

The actor, now 65, was just 18 when he starred opposite a 14-year-old Brooke Shields in the controversial 1980 film, playing her character's cousin Richard after the pair are shipwrecked together and eventually have a child. Speaking during a Q&A panel at the Fanboy Expo Knoxville in Tennessee, Atkins opened up about how quickly his life changed once the movie hit theaters, admitting he had zero acting experience going in.

"I'd never done anything before. Never wanted to be an actor, only wanted to play baseball. That was my dream," he told the audience, before explaining he'd been modeling for the Ford agency in New York when he was called back repeatedly to audition for the role.

Atkins says he is approaching 40 years of sobriety after struggling with alcohol earlier in his career. (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)

How did Christopher Atkins lose the lead in Footloose?

Atkins also used the panel to reveal a separate near-miss with Hollywood stardom, claiming his drinking cost him the lead role in 1984's "Footloose," a part that ultimately went to Kevin Bacon.

"I was a mess back then. I was partying it up way too much, and they called me in," he said, recalling how filmmakers wanted a final meeting before locking him into the part. "I said... 'I can't go in right now. I've been drinking and carrying on.' And they said, 'No, they need to see you.' And I went in and I just blew that audition... I mean, it wasn't even an audition - I had the part, but I was so messed up that they said, 'Yeah, we're going to have to pass on this guy.'"

Atkins, who says he is nearly 40 years sober, added: "And I'm almost 40 years sober, so there you go."

Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields starred together in The Blue Lagoon in 1980, when Atkins was 18 and Shields was 14. (Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/IMAGES/Getty Images)

What has Brooke Shields said about filming The Blue Lagoon?

The resurfaced comments come after Shields, now 59, discussed the film on her podcast Now What? With Brooke Shields, where she sat down with Atkins to reflect on their time making it.

Shields said the movie 'wouldn't be allowed' to be made today given the ages of the two lead actors at the time.

She also described being pushed toward a real-life romance with her co-star despite feeling uncomfortable with the idea.

"They wanted us so desperately to fall in love with each other," she said. "I did not react well being forced into feeling anything. I hadn't even kissed anybody by that age."

Shields has previously spoken about the film in her 2023 documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, in which she claimed producers had wanted to 'sell her actual sexual awakening.'

Atkins, meanwhile, described the sudden fame that followed the film's release as intense but transformative.

"It changes your life, because all of a sudden you're nothing and then you're on every single grocery store magazine," he said.