A clip from a 1980 interview with Brooke Shields is going viral on TikTok. TV reporter and film critic Bobbie Wygant sat down with a then-15-year-old Brooke, who was promoting her movie The Blue Lagoon at the time. In one part of the interview, Bobbie asks Brooke about the movie Pretty Baby, which she starred in when she was 11 years old.
In Pretty Baby, Brooke played a child prostitute. In the part of the interview that is going viral on TikTok, Bobbie asks 15-year-old Brooke why she didn't want to do a nude scene in The Blue Lagoon. Bobbie says, "Is it because when you had the nude scene in Pretty Baby, a lot of people gave you flack over that, didn't they? Was that why you didn't want to do it again?"
Brooke replies, "Um, I don't think that was the main reason. I think, possibly, I didn't want to have to go through anymore of the hassle, but I think just 'cause I'm older now. I was 11 then."
"And now that I'm older, I just don't feel like I wanna do it," she says.
Over half a million people felt uncomfortable about how the interview was conducted — and couldn't believe Brooke was so young when she did the nude scene.
Many thought it was scary because they couldn't fathom what being in the public eye was like for Brooke at that age.
It just felt gut-wrenching for people to imagine a child that young to be put in that type of position.
Brooke herself has addressed her own childhood sexual exploitation, and has also revealed that she was sexually assaulted in her 20s by a powerful Hollywood executive.
Brooke is one of many young Hollywood stars who have been sexualized by the media. Her documentary about her childhood sexualization — Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields — is available to stream on Hulu.
