Brooke Shields opened up about being a sexualized child actress and the perils of growing up in Hollywood as she marked International Women’s Day on Friday by appearing on a panel at SXSW.
Shields, 58, who joined Meghan Markle and news presenter Katie Couric to talk about “breaking barriers” and “representation of women”, said she was at the “centre” of the sexualisation of young women in Hollywood and that her mother and her team had protected her from predators.
The actress was just 11 when she was forced to seductively kiss Keith Carradine, then 27, in the 1978 film Pretty Baby, in which she played a prostitute. She also appeared nude in a Playboy shoot when she was 10, and the star confronted her child exploitation in the documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.
She said: ‘There was this sexualisation of young women and I was at the center of it. I was promoting it, I was surrounded by a strong mother, I had a community around me, I didn’t become the kind of statistic that Hollywood created.’
Brooke Shields opened up about being a sexualized child actress and the perils of growing up in Hollywood as she marked International Women’s Day on Friday by appearing on a panel at SXSW.
The actress was just 11 when she was forced to seductively kiss Keith Carradine, then 27, in the 1978 film Pretty Baby, in which she played a prostitute (Shields is seen in a promotional shot for the film shared in his documentary).
And he added: “Hollywood is based on eating its young.”
Shields reflected on aging in Hollywood and her determination to be the voice of women over 40, saying, “At 58 you’re too old to be naïve, but you’re not grandma yet.”
“I think my reaction is, instead of getting angry, to find and discover filmmakers who appreciate a woman over 40 and appreciate the experience of life.
‘There are people who want to adapt their programming to women of that age.
‘My entire career has been based on beauty, as I get older I want my message to be one of gratitude, but beauty as well-being… we are not just anti-wrinkle creams.
“We need to change the narrative and say there is beauty in this time.”
Shields has previously said she struggled to understand how her mother Teri Shields didn’t intervene during the filming of Pretty Baby when she revealed that her own daughters, Rowan, 19, and Grier, 16, refuse to see her.
In a clip from the documentary Pretty Baby, Rowan says: ‘It’s child porn! ‘Would you have let us (do that) at the age of 11?’
She said: ‘There was this sexualisation of young women and I was at the center of it. I was promoting it, I was surrounded by a strong mother, I had a community around me, I didn’t become the kind of statistic that Hollywood created.’
Shields, 58, who joined Meghan Markle and news presenter Katie Couric to talk about “breaking barriers” and “representation of women”, said she was at the “centre” of the sexualisation of young women in Hollywood and that her mother and her team had protected her from predators
Shields has previously said she struggled to understand how her mother Teri Shields didn’t intervene during the filming of Pretty Baby when she revealed that her own daughters, Rowan, 19, and Grier, 16, refuse to see her (pictured).
Shields reflected on aging in Hollywood and her determination to be the voice of women over 40, saying, “At 58 you’re too old to be naïve, but you’re not grandma yet.”
Shields was seen arriving in Austin on Thursday.
Shields responds “No” while overcome with emotion. Recalling the conversation, she told The Sunday Times Magazine: “It was hard for me not to justify my mother to them, but when they asked me, I thought, ‘Oh God, I have to admit this.’ I don’t know why she thought it was all over. good.
The star’s mother was an alcoholic who died in 2012. Shields, an only child, said she couldn’t be angry with her because her mother was so insecure.
The actress has long avoided the blame faced by her mother, who allowed Shields to pose nude for a Playboy spread when she was 10, but now Shields has admitted: “I don’t know why she thought it was okay.” I don’t know.’
Directed by Lana Wilson, the documentary takes its name from Louis Malle’s 1978 film ‘Pretty Baby,’ a drama about a young sex worker, played by Shields, in New Orleans in 1917.
In the film, written by Polly Platt, she kisses Carradine while appearing naked.
At one point, Shields reportedly made a disgusted face and the director yelled at him. However, her mother never intervened.
“That was… it was hard for me, not to justify my mom to them, but when they asked me, I thought, ‘Oh God, I have to admit this,'” Shields told the Times when talking about the documentary.
‘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 okay. I don’t know.’
It was not the first nor would it be the last time the media sexualized her. At 15 she filmed ‘Blue Lagoon’, then came ‘Endless Love’. Both featured sex and nudity. And then there were those Calvin Klein denim ads.
When she was 16 and a global star, a photographer and family friend tried to sell nude photographs he took of her when she was just 10 years old. Her mother filed a lawsuit and the family went to court, but the photographer won.
The actress has long avoided the blame faced by her mother, who allowed Shields to pose nude for a Playboy spread when she was 10, but now Shields has admitted: “I don’t know why she thought it was okay.” I don’t know.
There was more sex and nudity for her the following year in Franco Zeffirelli’s romantic drama Endless Love, about two high school sweethearts who are forbidden to see each other.
And at age 15, she appeared, writhing in figure-hugging denim, in provocative Calvin Klein Jeans ads, which featured the suggestive slogan: ‘Want to know what comes between me and my Calvin?’ Nothing.’
The films and that advertising campaign helped propel her to international stardom.
For years, he credited his fiercely defensive mother Teri, who was also his manager. “If anyone looked at me askance, I’d say, ‘I’ll cut your ass off and make you eat it,'” Shields said in 2019.
In the documentary, the actress reveals that she was raped when she was in her early 20s in a hotel room by an anonymous man from the film industry.
At age 14 she began filming the raunchy teen romance Blue Lagoon, in which her character frequently stripped naked and had sex with her castaway companion played by Christopher Atkins, who was then 18.
Shields previously claimed that her mother was “in love with her” as she immersed herself in her daughter’s career and that she never dated anyone.
She told Drew Barrymore in a 2023 interview that her mother accompanied her to all the interviews she had when she was younger.
Shields said: ‘No one will catch you. I will be there. I arrive first. You are mine. I’m not going to hand you over to anyone.
“Under the pretext of protection, but it was more property and fear.”
But at the time, Shields didn’t care how her mother acted because she equated the work she did with being able to buy her “stuff.”
“I made a movie and we got a car. The only thing I knew was to keep my mother alive, keep dancing and get things,” he recalled.