Brooke Shields fans heartbroken over star's TikTok about playing a prostitute at age 12

Fans of Brooke Shields say they are heartbroken after the actor shared a TikTok about her playing a prostitute as a child.

The 59-year-old Hollywood star lived in the public eye before she could talk.

The New York celeb started her career in the limelight at just 11 months old before shooting to superstardom at the age of 12 as a child actor.

Shields played the role of a young prostitute in Louis Malle's 1978 film, Pretty Baby, which is controversial enough without the fact the movie also had nude scenes of her.

The movie, set in 1917, follows the story of a 12-year-old girl as she grows up in a brothel in New Orleans under the wings of her prostitute mother.

It is based upon a true story of a young girl who was sexually exploited and forced into the industry as a child as told in the book, Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-Light District by Al Rose.

Then when Shields was just 14, she took on the role of Emmeline Lestrange in the 1980 movie The Blue Lagoon, in which she starred alongside Christopher Atkins, who played her cousin Richard.

The Blue Lagoon follows the story of the cousins and their 'sexual maturity', hitting another controversial topic as they go on to have a baby together.

Now, fans of the star have said they are heartbroken as Shields has appeared to make light of her sexualized movie role when she was a child.

Taking to TikTok, Shields joined in on the 'you're so funny' trend where people share seemingly traumatic experiences that made them who they are today.

She wrote: "'You're so funny'. Thanks! I played a prostitute in a movie when I was 12!"

The actor giggled and pulled various faces in the seven-second clip which has since hit a nerve with her fans.

One viewer wrote: "Pretty Baby was traumatizing as a viewer I can't imagine your pain."

Another said the video prompted 'horrified looks from everyone in the room'.

Someone else commented: "I sometimes think about Blue Lagoon and remember how LITTLE YOU WERE."

"You deserved so much better," a concerned fan chimed. "I'm genuinely so sorry no one was there to protect you."

Shields hasn't shied away from discussing the trauma she faced as a rising star in an overly sexualized industry either, having opened up about the objectification she endured in the Hulu documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.

Then sitting down with her co-star, Atkins, the pair spoke about The Blue Lagoon movie on her Now What? With Brooke Shields podcast.

Shields said: "Never again will a movie be made like that ever. I mean, it wouldn't be allowed."

She has also touched on the troubling topic in her new memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman, which came out last month.

"I hate what you went through," wrote another fan. "I admire you now you have amazing children, you are healthy and happy and have become an admirable woman inside and out."