[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
We’ve always thought of her as a strong, successful woman. But Brooke Shields may genuinely be one of the most mistreated stars of all time.
On Monday her Hulu documentary Pretty Baby premieres, and it promises to expose a whole generation for exploiting a very, very young girl. We’re not just talking about films like The Blue Lagoon, which she appeared in when she was just 14 years old (her nude scenes were simulated by a 30-year-old model — but not her scenes with a fully nude 18-year-old Christopher Atkins). No, this was even before that.
She began as a child model, and was sexualized basically from jump street. It’s really horrifying.
In anticipation of the doc, which we’re sure will be all kinds of upsetting, a magazine article resurfaced and has gone viral. The High Times piece is a shocking surviving example of the disgusting way in which adults talked about a 12-year-old girl.
Related: Brooke Shields Shares Details Of Being Sexually Assaulted Early In Her Career
In the article, writer Ed Dwyer — who apparently still works as a freelance journalist even today for the likes of Variety and The Saturday Evening Post — describes a preteen Brooke Shields who just starred in the film Pretty Baby, the upsetting story of a girl in the 1900s born and raised in a brothel. But rather than note her exceptional acting or realism, the entire piece focuses on how *ick* hot she is. We could not make this up. She is described in the profile as:
“million-dollar jailbait”
“a sultry mix of all-American virgin and nascent whore”
“the delicious stuff of teenage fantasies become flesh: barely old enough to want, but too young to get”
“extraordinarily beautiful even as an infant”
“sister, daughter, sex object, victim, lover, tramp”
“a sweet temptation to all but blind men and eunuchs”
“the first serious actress to violate the preteen sex taboo”
“the most perfect nymphette in all creation”
If you’re back from throwing up, you may be wondering the same thing as us. How is all of 1978 not in prison??
You can see the entire article captured in a viral tweet (below):
Documentary on Brooke Shields is coming out soon on Disney+ and I will never not be horrified by the way so many adults sexualised a prepubescent girl. Should all be thrown in jail pic.twitter.com/Qo7z9eGWbi
— S (@carbdiem) March 28, 2023
This man was not run out of the business. The editor of the magazine wasn’t fired. If anything this was simply a more frank reflection of how the entire media, the entire world, was treating this little girl. And it’s just horrifying.
[Image via Paramount/Hulu/YouTube.]
