Brooke Shields recounts being ‘exploited’ and labelled ‘object of desire’ as a preteen

Brooke Shields reflected on her career as a child star and expressed her disbelief on how she survived the industry as a child star.

In the trailer for her two-part documentary called Pretty Baby, which explores her decades-long career in the spotlight, the 57-year-old actress teared up as she remembered being “catapulted into the world of adult sexuality,” via Page Six.

“That always just seared me,” she told the cameras in the documentary. She recalled being called “the most photographed woman in the world,” “iconic American beauty,” an “object of desire,” “sexualised child model,” “vulnerable” and “exploitation.”

In one instance, a male reporter dubbed her “an exquisite-looking young lady” and a “pretty girl” when she was just a pre-teen.

The documentary is named after one of her first movies in which she played a child prostitute.

She also shared that in 1981, when she was merely 16, the young actress was chosen for the cover of Time Magazine as the face of the ’80s era.

“Who decides that?” she asked, shocked. “I was struggling to find my own voice, I wasn’t told it was important to have agency.”

“Now, it’s like I’m allowed to be a human being,” she concluded at the end of the trailer.

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields premieres on Monday, April 3rd, 2023, on Hulu.