Brooke Shields’ younger daughter, Grier, recalled learning about her mother’s sexual assault for the first time when she watched the actress’s 2023 documentary “Pretty Baby.”
The two-part series took an all-encompassing look at Shields’ career and detailed the intense media scrutiny and sexual objectification she faced as the star of the controversial movies “Pretty Baby” and “The Blue Lagoon.”
In “Pretty Baby,” which premiered February 2023 at the Sundance Film Festival, Shields, 59, revealed for the first time she had been raped in her 20s by an unnamed industry professional.
Grier recently joined her mother and her sister Rowan, 21, for an interview with People magazine, in which she remembered her shock over the revelation.
“I was learning about things the same time that the world was and I just took it more deeply and personally,” Grier said. “I couldn’t even get through it.”
Shields, who shares her two daughters with her husband Chris Hency, explained that Rowan knew about the assault, but Grier was unaware.
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“I didn’t prepare her,” the model admitted. “It was a miscommunication. I had explained it was an exploration of sexualization of women in my industry but I was naively thinking that because we had such a solid, healthy, fairly normal existence and I’m not completely damaged that she would say, ‘Wow you’ve come through a lot but look where we are today.’”
The two-time Golden Globe Award nominee said she regretted not discussing her experience with Grier beforehand upon seeing her daughter’s reaction.
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“I told her ‘but there’s a happy ending’ and she said, ‘I will never be okay with thinking something bad happened to you,'” Shields recalled.
“She ended up missing the happy part,” the actress continued. “She felt helpless, and just as a mom, we make mistakes and sometimes we make assumptions.”
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“To see the documentary or to see your parents as a public figure that other people have opinions on is just an odd situation,” Shields acknowledged.
“Part of being a mom is learning from your kids,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot by listening to them.”
“Pretty Baby” was released in April 2023 on Hulu. In a March 2023 interview with People magazine, Shields opened up about being sexually assaulted and explained why she was ready to share her story after more than three decades.
“It’s taken me this long to process it… I was never ready prior. I had to process it in my own way and on my own terms,” Shields said.
“Everybody processes their own trauma on a different timeline… it just felt like the right time now.”
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