1674269681 Brooke Shields reveals sexual assault details in new Sundance documentary

Brooke Shields reveals sexual assault details in new Sundance documentary: ‘I’ve spoken out about what happened for the first time’

U.S. actress and model Brooke Shields arrives at the National Board of Review Awards Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on January 8, 2023 in New York City.  (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Brooke Shields arrives at the National Board of Review Awards Gala on January 8, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Brooke Shields opens up for the first time about a sexual assault she experienced in her early 20s. The actress and model are telling their story in Lana Wilson’s new two-part documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, which premieres today at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Although Shields does not identify her attacker in the film, she confirms it was someone she knew and was friends with. “This is the first time I’ve spoken out about what happened,” Shields says as she tearfully tells her story.

At the time of the attack, the former child star was looking to restart her acting career, having retired from the spotlight to attend Princeton University. But her return to Hollywood turned out to be more difficult than expected. That’s when her attacker reached out for the first time. “I heard there was a movie being made and I thought about it,” Shields recalls in the film. “It was the first time since college that interest had been expressed [in me].”

“We had dinner,” she continues. “I thought it was a work meeting. I had met this person before and he was always nice to me.” But the mood of the meeting changed abruptly in the middle of the meal, and she quickly began looking for an exit. “I said, ‘I need to get a cab,’ and he said, ‘Come back to the hotel — I’ll call you a cab.'”

Shields followed him to his hotel room and recalls being left alone for a time, unsure of what to do. “I don’t want to go to the phone because it’s not my phone,” she says. “I don’t want to sit down because I’m not staying.” While she was looking at the beach through binoculars, her attacker reappeared. “The door opens and the person comes out naked,” she says. “I put the binoculars back and he was right next to me.”

Brooke Shields tells her life story in new documentary Pretty Baby.  (Photo: Courtesy of the Sundance Institute)

Brooke Shields tells her life story in new documentary Pretty Baby. (Photo: Courtesy of the Sundance Institute)

“It was like wrestling,” Shields describes, adding that she was too scared of being choked or hit to think about fighting back. “I just froze. I thought, ‘My single ‘no’ should have been enough. Stay alive and get out.'”

The story goes on

During the attack, Shields said she “distancing herself” from her body, an experience she had earlier in her career on the set of the 1981 Franco Zeffirelli film Endless Love. While filming a love scene for this romance, Shields – who was 15 when the film was made – recalls how the late Italian director grabbed her toe and twisted it to capture the look of “Ecstasy” that he wanted in front of the camera.

“It was more scary than anything because he hurt me,” says Shields in Pretty Baby. “I didn’t want to appear stupid, our untalent, so I just broke up. It’s as if it’s you [instantly] Zoom Out: See a situation but you are not connected to it. You will immediately. a touch of yourself around something that’s happening.” (Zeffirelli also directed the 1968 film version of Romeo & Juliet, which included a brief nude scene with the film’s then-underage stars Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. Both actors are now suing Paramount over the scene.

When the attack ended, Shields recalls her still-naked attacker not even acknowledging what happened. “The next thing I know, the door is open and the person is like, ‘See you then.’ I just said ‘yes’ and walked out, took the elevator down and got my own taxi. I cried all the way to my boyfriend’s place.”

Shields in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love. (Photo: ©Universal Pictures/Courtesy The Everett Collection)

Shields in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love. (Photo: Universal Pictures/Courtesy The Everett Collection)

According to Shields, instead of discussing the incident publicly, she later confronted her attacker in a letter. “I said, ‘That was a huge trust that just got blasted. How dare you? I’m better than that. I’m better than you. That’s how I’ve handled things. I wanted to erase the whole thing from my mind and body and just continue on the path I was on. The system never came to help me. So I just had to get stronger on my own.

Speaking to ahead of the Sundance premiere of Pretty Baby, Shields said that when she sat down to be interviewed by Wilson for the film, she wasn’t sure at first if she was going to tell her story. “I had no idea I was going to say that,” she explained, adding that the tenor of the #MeToo period made her realize now was the right time to speak out. “As a mother of two young girls, I feel like I hope just by hearing about my incident I can help to become a lawyer. Because this happens every day and shouldn’t happen. I felt that I had arrived at a place where I could talk about it. It took a long time.”

Pretty Baby premieres on Hulu later this year and features Shields reflecting on many of her high-profile relationships, including with Michael Jackson, who she says has never been a romantic partner, despite intense public scrutiny of their years-long friendship. “We met when I was 13 and we hung out,” she recalls in the film. “It was very childish.”

Brooke Shields and Michael Jackson (Photo by Barry King/WireImage)

Brooke Shields and Michael Jackson attend the 11th Annual American Music Awards in 1984. (Photo by Barry King/WireImage)

“We were just really friends,” Shields continues. “But he always kind of wanted to be seen with me. If he were to choose a restaurant, I would say, ‘How did you do that? [the paparazzi] do you know that we were here?’ And then at some point he said we should adopt a child and raise a child together.”

The actress also points out that Jackson lied when he told Oprah Winfrey that he and Shields were dating during a famous television interview in 1993. “I called him [afterwards] and said, ‘What are you doing?’” she recalls. “‘I’m currently in New York City with my boyfriend! What are you doing?’ Eventually I lost contact with him.”

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields Premieres later this year on Hulu.