Brooke Shields before and after 'The Blue Lagoon'

She stole our hearts with 'The Blue Lagoon' four decades ago. In a 2023 documentary, Brooke Shields recounts what it was like to be hyped as a young girl in Hollywood.

By now, Brooke Shields is in her fifties, looking lovely as ever, and with incredible wisdom. She presented her documentary 'Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields' at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

In the ABC/Hulu documentary 'Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,' the actress remembers some horrible incidents of her early career as a child actress.

As Deadline cites from the documentary, Brooke Shields reveals that an 'insider' from the entertainment industry, someone she trusted, assaulted her one evening. "He was right on me. It was just like wrestling," she said.

Image: still from 'Pretty Baby, Brooke Shields,' ABC/Hulu

Born on May 31, 1965, Brooke Shields went through a remarkable trajectory as a model, child actress, and established Hollywood icon. It was difficult at first, but eventually, she would overcome her demons. Read all about her life here.

Brooke Shields was still a little girl when her parents, a former model and beauty company executive, saw her beauty as a perfect magnet for brands. They coached her from a young age to market her appearance and acting skills. Brooke starred in several commercials and magazine ads.

At age 10, she played her first movie part. It was a horror film named 'Communion (Alice, Sweet Alice)' and it came out in 1976.

At age 13, Brooke Shields played Violet in 'La Petite' ('Pretty Baby') by French director Louis Malle.

The role caused controversy, as she played the daughter of an escort who acted out scenes inappropriate for her age. The media even accused the actress' mother of stealing her childhood.

A year later and already one of the young promises of Hollywood, Brooke Shields starred in the film 'Tilt' as a successful pinball player who runs away from home to follow the boy she likes.

In 1979, young Brooke Shields signed another big contract to play an orphan girl in 'Wanda Nevada'. The young actress seemed to have it all. Here she poses with Maggie Smith at the 1979 Oscars.

It seemed like she was the luckiest new star in Hollywood, hanging around at parties with icons like Kristy McNichol, Leif Garrett, and Peter Fonda.

Brooke Shields' fame reached one of its highest points thanks to a film that was both applauded and heavily criticized. Despite being a minor, Brooke appeared sparsely clad in 'The Blue Lagoon' and played love scenes that were questionable material for a teenage girl.

Still, the film was a success and it made Brooke Shields an international star. Anyone who hadn't gotten to know her before, certainly recognized her now.

In the 1980s, Brooke continued to star in projects for film and television besides attending high school. The media applauded her acting as well as her beauty.

While on the outside it seemed to be all laughs and parties for young Brooke, in her private life she lived a nightmare. The actress revealed in her autobiography 'There Was a Little Girl' (2014) that her mother's alcohol problems profoundly marked her first years in cinema.

During interviews, for example with Porter Edit, Brooke Shields recalled that she was under a lot of pressure from her mother. "She called me fat and made me feel uncomfortable with her offensive comments."

At the age of 18, Brooke Shields continued to draw large audiences to the movie theatre. Her films - like 'Sahara' were a success and so was her image on the covers of magazines.

She was allegedly involved with famous men like Michael Jackson, John Travolta, Prince Albert of Monaco (photo), and at some point, even with Dodi Al Fayed (who later dated Princess Diana). However, with none of them, the actress herself recalled, she had more than a simple friendship.

At Michael Jackson's memorial service in 2009, Shields said they were never a real couple. "Michael always knew he could count on me to support him or be his date and that we would have fun no matter where we were. We had a bond... Both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together, we were two little kids having fun."

At the gates of the 1990s, critics slowly began to turn their backs on Brooke Shields. While having trouble finding a role as successful as the one in 'The Blue Lagoon', she also received awards for "the worst actress of the year." In 'Speedzone,' she played a stewardess.

With her role as the superheroine Brenda Starr, Brooke Shields failed to get good reviews once again. The film, which also starred Timothy Dalton, bombed at the box office.

The career of Brooke Shields went through a bad phase in the early 90s. Not even a commercial success like the movie 'Freaked' could lift her reputation. In 1993, Shields got more attention for her personal life than for her acting achievements.

The big news surrounding Brooke Shields was her romance with the tennis star Andre Agassi in 1993. They married in 1997.

Since movies weren't really working out at that time, Brooke tried her luck in the world of television. During the 1990s she played guest roles in many series, such as the sitcom 'Friends,' showing that she could be very funny.

Between 1996 and 2000, Brooke Shields starred in the television series 'Suddenly Susan'. This sitcom earned her the Golden Globe for Best TV Actress on two occasions. It also increased, why not say it, her bank account by several zeros.

In 1999, after six years of marriage, Brooke separated from Andre Agassi. Later, in her autobiography, she reflected on her breakup:
"I made a mistake. In the two years after the wedding, we saw each other only a few times. I was working on the show [Suddenly Susan] and he was playing tournaments. He ignored me when he lost, and when he won, he went straight to the next championship."

The switch to television worked out great for Brooke Shields in the 1990s. She returned to the big screen in films like 'The Bachelor', along with other, small roles. Audiences appeared to appreciate the actress that had enchanted the world in the late 70s and early 80s.

She also overcame the end of her marriage with Andre Agassi. Here we see her with her new boyfriend, the screenwriter Chris Henchy, in 1999.

All in all, Brooke Shields' film success of the 1980s was never repeated. However, the actress continued to try, alternating minor films with television roles. In her early 40s, she appeared in this remarkable Italian film about a love triangle.

Off the screen, Brooke Shields participated in musical classics like Cabaret (2001) and Chicago (2005). They were some of the few occasions where she was able to shake off her image of the sweet, feminine type with long hair.

Meanwhile, on the personal side, her life changed immensely: she married Chris Henchy in 2001 and had two children, Rowan (2003) and Grier Hammond (2006).

Brooke Shields changed quite a lot, physically and mentally, after she had her second child. The actress would reveal that she'd suffered from postpartum depression.

Having recovered from her depression, Brooke Shields returned to film in 2008 with the thriller 'The Midnight Meat Train.' Her co-star was Bradley Cooper.

By 2010, Brooke Shields had turned 45 and played movie roles only when she really felt like it. Her career had fewer obstacles than in the beginning.

She spoke very openly in several television interviews about her difficult childhood, her relationship with the late Michael Jackson, and about how difficult it was to deal with the press at some painful moments in her life.

As she committed heart and soul to making up for any lost time with her family, the actress signed only a few roles in TV series and small film projects from 2010 onwards.

She made this career choice with a clear objective: that her daughters would not repeat the mistakes she made as a child: "I try to show them an image of a complete woman, very different from the one I had when I grew up," she told Yahoo Lifestyle. "I don't want them to feel ashamed of themselves."

With a great physique for someone nearing 50 years, Brooke Shields freed herself from all these complexes and ghosts of the past to star alongside legends like Daryl Hannah in the comedy 'The Hot Flashes'.

"When I was little, I was afraid of disappointing my mother. Fortunately, all that is in the past," the actress said in an interview for the website 'XL Semanal'.

As the 2010s ended, a renewed Brooke Shields displayed a remarkable maturity and calmness. In 'Daisy Winters' she played a mother who is very close to her daughter.

Brooke Shields came a long way from her teenage self in 'The Blue Lagoon' to the great character of River Fields in 'Jane the Virgin.' Her performance in the comedy-drama series got many positive reactions.

She hasn't been on TV or in cinemas a lot lately. In 2020, she appeared in the movie 'My Boyfriend's Meds,' and she participated in online talks about life during the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2022, she starred in a Netflix movie with Cary Elwes: 'A Castle for Christmas.' It was one of the rare projects in which she had the main role. Until the documentary 'Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields' arrived in 2023.

Has Brooke Shields managed to overcome her fears and her difficult past? That's something she has yet to answer for herself. Be that as it may, Brooke Shields is a very proud mother. You can see it in this photo with her daughter Grier Hammond!

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