[Netherrealmer]

She is one of the most established veteran actresses in Hollywood. She is known for her iconic eyebrows, because there are so many women who want to copy her eyebrows. I knew her more on her career as a middle-aged woman, but I didn't know that she was a former child star. But what I found disturbing are the roles that she got as a child star.



Basically, I was looking for documentaries and I found a documentary about her, and I was so disturbed on what I saw. I found out that when she was 11 years old, she starred on a historical movie titled Pretty Baby, where she played the role of an 11-year-old girl who was raised on a brothel. And because she was surrounded by prostitutes on that movie, the role is too disturbing to be played by an 11-year-old. She did her first kissing scene at age 11 with a 28-year-old man.



When she was 14 years old, she did the movie Blue Lagoon, and she was heavily sexualized on that movie. Blue Lagoon is about two child cousins who got stranded in an island, and because they grew up together alone on that island, they end up having sexual relations and the girl got pregnant. Brooke Shields was only 14 when she did this movie.



It's really disturbing that during the 80s, this young woman was sexualized at a very young age. For sure, modern American media have sexualization of teenage characters, but those teenage characters are played by adult actors. For example, the HBO drama Euphoria had sexualized teenage characters, but those teenage characters are played by adults.Sydney Sweeney and Zendaya were adults when they did Euphoria.Meanwhile, Brooke Shields was underage when she did those movies that portrayed her in a provocative way.

[Fergal]

That is quite disturbing, hopefully things like that are in the past and don't happen anymore.

[ptrikha21]

Quite disturbing indeed!
I hope there are more safeguards in the industry now but do we really know?
Or are such things still happening?

[Netherrealmer]

I think teenagers are much more protected now, although there are still incidents, because these days, teenage roles are given to adults with baby faces.

[Angie10]

Wow, that's crazy.... I wasn't aware she was playing those roles at such a young age. I swear, the evils of Hollywood know no bounds.

[germainebull]

I also find it very shocking to see what Brooke Shields went through as a young actress in Hollywood. It's a shame to see her given serious roles instead of just playing like other kids.

[cmoneyspinner]

A lot of child stars have disturbing stories. Fortunately - if they survive their parents - they will be able to find their own strength and live their own life.

I vaguely recall her mother saying in an interview that she knew her little daughter was "hot stuff" and she was going to make money from it. I think Brooke was about 5 or 6 years old.

[Netherrealmer]

It took Brooke Shields reaching adulthood before she realized that she was abused by the industry.

[Neurosurgeon]

Brooke Shields began acting as a child, starring in films like _Pretty Baby_ and _The Blue Lagoon_, sparking intense debate over her early exposure to adult themes and the ethics of child modeling in controversial roles that raised public scrutiny.

[cmoneyspinner]

It took Brooke Shields reaching adulthood before she realized that she was abused by the industry.

Abused by the industry, starting with her mom. Just saying.

That's how it is with most of these child stars. I only know two child stars who actually discussed their career with their parents WHEN they were children. Shirley Temple and Elizabeth Taylor.

[Netherrealmer]

Well, at least Hollywood somehow figured out a way to protect children, but child influencers sadly do not have the same protection. For example, former social media child stars like Lil Tay and Piper Rockelle are both OnlyFans models now.Both girls started to have children as market, but the moment they turned 18, suddenly their market are adult men, and those adult men had been waiting for them to turn 18, as if they made countdowns for them to turn 18.

[cmoneyspinner]

Children can not protect themselves. You have to wonder about adults who can be cruel to them. It's sick.

[eldavis]

Though most of these roles are actually played by adults but at the end of the day, it still passes the wrong message to most viewers.