Brooke Shields recounts being raped in her early 20s 'by industry insider' in new docuseries
4 February 2023, 16:42 | Updated: 4 February 2023, 16:44
Actor Brooke Shields recounts being raped early on in her Hollywood career "by an industry insider" in new documentary.
The 57-year-old reveals that she was raped by an unnamed man in the film industry in a hotel room while in her early 20s in the documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields which premiered last month in the US.
The former child actress reveals that after graduating from Princeton University in 1987, she struggled to get acting work.
So she explains that she jumped at the opportunity to talk about a new movie role when an acquaintance from the film industry asked her to dinner.
"I thought it was a work meeting," Ms Brooke says in the series. "I had met this person before and he was always nice to me."
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But as they ate their meal, she noticed "his behaviour was changing and there was no talk about the movie".
After dinner, the man insisted that she call a taxi from his hotel room.
He then left, and when he returned, the man was naked, and threw himself on her.
"He was right on me. It was just like wrestling," she said.
"I was afraid I would get choked out or something, I didn't know. I played the scene out in my head, so I didn't fight that much. ... I just absolutely froze. I just thought, 'Stay alive and get out.'
"I just shut it out. God knows I knew how to be disassociated from my body. I’d practised that."
Ms Shields doesn't name the alleged attacker in the docuseries.
Afterwards she says she called a taxi and, crying throughout the journey, went to her friend's flat where she told her security chief, Gavin de Becker, about what had happened.
"I was angry to hear her story," he says in the two-parter, "That's my little sister and I wanted her to know she didn't do anything wrong."
Ms Shields says that for years she refused to accept what had happened: "I drank wine at dinner. I went up to the room. I just was so trusting..."
The incident is one of many traumatic events she recalls in the two-part series, which is set to stream on Hulu later this year.
She originally found fame after starring in 1978 film Pretty Baby in which she played a child prostitute aged just 11.
Despite her age, she had to be appear naked on screen and kiss 29-year-old co-star Keith Carradine.
Ms Shields has defended the film, which was about New Orleans' red-light district though it was condemned as being little more than child pornography.
The film was slapped with an X-rating in the UK and its release was pushed back until cuts had been made.
The documentary also reveals how uncomfortable she felt as a young actor during sex scenes such as those shot by Endless Love director Franco Zeffirelli.
Ms Shields has also previously revealed how producers encouraged her and Blue Lagoon co-star Christopher Atkins to have an off-screen romance, despite their ages of 14 and 18 respectively.
The documentary will be released at a later date on Hulu in the United States and is expected to be available as Star Originals on Disney+ in the UK.
