The Blue Lagoon Actress Brooke Shields Says She Was Sexually Assaulted By Hollywood Executive When She Was Younger
Brooke Shields is telling a story of sexual assault, which she says she suffered at the hands of a Hollywood executive. She shares the story in her two-part documentary, Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby, scheduled to be premiered on April 3.
The documentary explores her life as a young girl in Hollywood who became the subject of fascination thanks to her sexualized roles in films like Pretty Baby, which saw her play the part of a child prostitute.
According to the now 57-year-old actress, she was afraid to come out at the time to reveal the abuse because she didn’t think anyone would believe her. “No one is going to believe me. People weren’t believing those stories back then. I thought I would never work again,” she told PEOPLE.
Going into the details, she explained that she was a 20-year-old fresh out of Princeton University at the time. However, she had a difficult time finding jobs and navigating her career. According to her, she had dinner with a Hollywood executive on one of those days, and she thought he was going to offer her a movie. However, she says he assaulted her after getting her to come to his hotel room to make a call for her cab back home.
“I didn’t fight. I just froze,” the documentary goes.
After the incident, Brooke shared that she struggled with guilt. “I kept saying, ‘I shouldn’t have done that. Why did I go up with him? I shouldn’t have had that drink at dinner,’” she revealed.
“It was really easy to disassociate because by then it was old hat. And because it was a fight-or-flight type of choice. Fight was not an option, so you just leave your body. ‘You’re not there. It didn’t happen,’” she recounts further.
According to the Endless Love star, she opened up to her close friend and then security consultant Gavin de Becker.
“Brooke lived so long in the judgment of others, by the millions, so it was heartbreaking to see her judge herself. It has also been inspiring to see her integrate the truth as she has,” Gavin said, per PEOPLE.
The mom of two now hopes her experience will help women like her deal with the trauma without feeling alone.
“Everybody processes their own trauma on a different timeline. I want to be an advocate for women to be able to speak their truth,” she said.
