Brooke Shields is speaking out about surviving a sexual attack over 30 years ago.
In a recent interview with People, Shields stated that a Hollywood producer assaulted her shortly after graduating from Princeton University.
She blamed herself at the moment, but she’s had time to comprehend what had happened over the years.
“I’m more enraged today than I was then. You have every right to be terrified. Those are frightening scenarios. They don’t have to be violent to be frightening.”
Since “people didn’t believe those allegations back then,” the model-turned-actress has confessed she was a victim of sexual assault for the first time. “I believed I’d never have to work again.”
Unfortunately, her narrative, which has become all too frequent in Hollywood, is portrayed in further depth in the upcoming two-part documentary Beautiful Baby: Brooke Shields.
“You see it all together doing the documentary, and it’s a marvel that I lived,” Shields remarked.
The 57-year-old began her modeling career when she was 11 months old. She continued to model until 1978 when she participated in the divisive film Beautiful Baby as a juvenile prostitute.
At the moment, she was 12 years old.
She was the youngest model to appear on the cover of Vogue when she was 14 years old.
Shields continued to appear in controversial advertisements, including Calvin Klein, during the 1980s, leading to her sexualization at a young age.
Shields found herself at the “lowest point” in her career after graduating from Princeton University. She had dinner with an unnamed Hollywood executive who she thought would offer her a role in a film or a job, but after their meal, he invited her to his hotel room.
He persuaded her to accompany him to his room under the pretense of calling a cab. But once there, he abused her sexually.
“I didn’t fight,” she stated flatly. “I just stood there frozen.”
Shields felt terrible about herself and blamed herself for the attack.
“I kept telling myself, ‘I shouldn’t have done that. Why did I agree to go up with him? ‘I probably shouldn’t have had that drink at dinner.’
Shields only told one person at the time, her close friend and former security consultant Gavin de Becker. But she’s now ready to share her story “in the hopes of making folks feel less alone.”
“Everyone handles their trauma on their timetable. I want to advocate for women’s right to speak their minds.”
It crushes my heart every time someone comes forward to say they were sexually assaulted and admit they never spoke out because they were frightened no one would believe them.
We must begin believing individuals, so they do not have to live with these terrible secrets for decades.