Brooke Shields tears up as she asks why her mom let her star in intimate scenes aged 11
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, Parenting
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Hulu / Sonia Moskowitz/IMAGES/Getty Images
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, Parenting
Brooke Shields was forced to wipe away tears as she questioned why her mom allowed her to feature in intimate scenes and images when she was still a child.
Now 58 years old, Shields has appeared in dozens of popular movies and TV shows including Endless Love, Friends and Jane The Virgin.
She's next set to star alongside Miranda Cosgrove in the Netflix movie Mother of the Bride, which is set to be released next month, but before all of that she appeared in a number of titles when she was just a child.
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Shields was only around 10 years old when she began landing acting roles, and in 1978 she appeared in the drama movie Pretty Baby as Violet, an abused child forced into sex work.
During the movie, Shields had her first kiss in a scene with her co-star - who was 29 years old at the time.
Just a few years later, when she was 14 years old, Shields starred in the movie Blue Lagoon; a film 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 admitted that it would never ‘be allowed now’.
The actor opened up about her experiences in a Hulu documentary called Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby, which showed how Shields ‘becomes a woman who discovers her power after being a sexualised young girl’.
In the documentary, Shields discussed her complicated relationship with her mother Teri, and spoke about how her mom allowed her to star in the controversial films.
As well as featuring in the intimate scenes, Shields also posed for Playboy when she was still a child.
The actor teared up as she recalled her experiences, telling filmmakers that it felt normal at the time but adding: "I don’t know why she thought it was all right."
Upon hearing more about Shield's previous roles, Shield’s own daughter, Rowan, shared her shock at the scenes her mother had appeared in as a child.
“It’s child pornography! Would you have let us [do that] at the age of 11?" she asked Shields, who tearfully replied: "No."
In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, Shields spoke about the making of the documentary as she said: “That was hard for me, to not justify my mom to [my kids], but when they asked me, I thought, ‘Oh god, I have to admit this'.
"I mean, I could say, ‘Oh, it was the time back then.’ Or ‘Oh, it was art.’ But I don’t know why she thought it was all right. I don’t know.”
Shields admitted that she was ‘amazed’ that she ‘survived any of it’, but then stated that she ultimately went on to ‘find her voice’.
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields is available to stream on Disney+.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 8am–10pm Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm weekends. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111