Aimee Walker
Brooke Shields broke down as she reflected on her relationship with her mom and how she let her take part in intimate scenes when she was only 11 years old.
The actress and mother opened up about her life, career, and being a child star in the two-part documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.
One topic she explored in great detail was her relationship with her alcoholic manager and mom, Teri.
In particular, Shields struggles to understand why her mother allowed her to star in unclothed scenes at age 11.
Shields’ breakthrough role was in the Louis Malle 1978 film Pretty Baby, in which she played a 12-year-old girl raised in a brothel.
Although the movie received praise from most critics, it also led to controversy due to its child exploitation depiction and intimate scenes featuring Shields, who was 11 at the time of filming.
In one scene, she had to kiss Keith Carradine, who was 27.
The young star reportedly expressed repulsion sometime during filming, leading the director to yell at her. Despite this, her mom didn’t step in.
During Shield’s documentary filming, one of her daughters asked: “Would you have let us [do that] at the age of 11?”
Tearfully, Shields responded: “No.”
Recalling this conversation, the actress told The Sunday Times Magazine: “That was… that was hard for me, to not justify my mom to them, 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.”
This wasn’t the only time Shields was s**ualized by the media at a young age.
She posed unclothed for Playboy at the age of 10, shot the movie Blue Lagoon (which featured s** and nudity) at 14, and featured in a controversial Calvin Klein jeans ad at 15.
Although she may question some of her mom’s decisions, Shields clarifies she doesn’t feel anger towards her mother.
The actress explained: “Everyone always wanted me to be angry with her, but anger was just too sad for me to take when I looked at how insecure she was.”
Shields added she still feels protective over her mom, who passed away aged 79 in 2012.
In an interview with Variety Studio, the former child star said: “You don’t ever recover from losing a parent.
“It’s a primal thing. You learn to put it in a different place in your heart. I also said goodbye to her every time she drank. She wasn’t present. I knew who she was capable of being because it was in there… I feel sad that she’s missing out on this. She’s probably looking down saying, ‘I didn’t get enough screen time.'”
Related Article: Brooke Shields Shares The Uncomfortable Things She Was Asked To Do For Blue Lagoon
Related Article: Kirsten Dunst Speaks Out About Kissing Brad Pitt, 31, When She Was 11 Years Old
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