Brooke Shields is opening up about her life—and how she was sexualized and exploited from childhood—in a powerful new documentary
There’s no denying that Brooke Shields is an icon. A star from an extremely young age, Shields is one of the most recognizable people on Earth—even past the heyday of her career in the ’80s. Now, she’s taking a look back at that career, including a hard look at how it was created and managed, in a powerful new documentary called Pretty Baby.
Shields was one of the most recognizable models in the world when she starred in campaigns for Calvin Klein in the ’80s. She also headlined major film roles like Blue Lagoon and Endless Love. And through it all, she withstood the scrutiny of an industry obsessed with her face and body, and a society that seemed determine to commodify her as much as possible. That’s what’s at the center of Pretty Baby, in which Shields herself gets in front of the camera to answer the question, “How does trauma change a person?”
The trailer shows disturbing footage of a talk show host sexualizing Shields as a very young girl. It promises to dive into Shields’ often fraught relationship with her mom and manager, Teri Shields. And it takes an unrelenting look at how far society is willing to go to control women.
“I’m amazed that I survived any of it,” Shields says in the trailer.
In the end, Shields’ story is far from the worst-case scenario. She defied expectations and paused her modeling and acting career to go to college. After graduating, she returned to the entertainment industry, but this time on her own terms and following her own instincts.
As she puts it, “I was struggling to find my own voice. I wasn’t told it was important to have agency. I found my confidence and thought, ‘I can have my own opinion.'”
Pretty Baby is directed by Lana Wilson, who is also behind Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana. It’s sure to be a powerful—and empowering—look at how far we’ve come in how we treat women, as well as how far we still have to go.
Pretty Baby begins streaming on Hulu on April 3.
