Many know Brooke Shields as the face that represents the ‘80s’. Her mother, Teri, who was also her manager, felt her beauty could not go unnoticed even at a young age. At 10 years old, she was photographed nude for the notorious adult magazine, Playboy. At 11 years old, she starred in the film “Pretty Baby,” which took place in a brothel. The Hulu documentary “Pretty Baby” is titled after this film, and it delves into Shields’s oversexualization and exploitation within Hollywood.  

Shields participated in many mature modeling campaigns, films, and advertisements throughout her youth. She was only 14 during her role in the movie “Blue Lagoon,” a tale of two shipwrecked children who become lovers, while her costar, Christopher Atkins, was 19. A year later, she starred in advertisements for the clothing brand Calvin Klein. Shields stated she often disassociated in the moments on set where she was treated as an aesthetic object rather than a person.  

“[You are] zooming out, seeing a situation, but you are not connected to it. You instantly become a vapor of yourself,” Shields described the experience in her documentary.  

As she aged, Shields became more adamant on detaching herself from the oversexualized roles she played in her youth. She credited much of her newfound confidence to attending college, where her professors at Princeton encouraged her to pave her own path in life. She disconnected from her mother’s management, who, during Shields’ adolescence, depended on her daughter’s income to support them. Shields experienced her first relationship in college, unlike all her previous on-screen romances, and later persevered through a divorce from her first husband. 

“There is a Brooke Shields for every generation; a young girl who was taken advantage of in the industry and then met with hostility as if it was her fault. Before Brooke Shields, it was Marilyn Monroe, and after her, it was Britney Spears,” Erin Murphy, senior, said.  

“Pretty Baby” is both an exposé and a cautionary tale about the danger Hollywood poses for underaged and undermanaged girls in the industry. Shields speaks on her experience with objectification, grooming, and sexual assault throughout her teen and even preteen years. She claims her pursuit of personal happiness, outside of acting and modeling jobs that relied on her beauty, led her to the loving husband and doting daughters she has now. 

“Everything is different now,” one of her daughters states towards the end of the documentary. 

Stream “Pretty Baby” now, only on Hulu, and take heed of the experiences and advice Brooke Shields bravely shares in her documentary.