Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields

I am about 10 years older than Brooke and I remember her early movies and ads for Calvin Klein. I never saw Pretty Baby, Blue Lagoon or the Zeffirelli movie. I was creeped out by the kiddie-porn aspect back then and her mom-manager. I want to say as much as everyone hammered her mother's bad choices, her father's total emotional absence is given a pass by the world. I had respect for her when she went to Princeton and always seemed to handle herself well as an adult. I really enjoyed her clap back at Tom Cruise - as he spewed his cult nonsense. I really appreciated the first two episodes and will definitely see the rest of the series. She survived and kept herself together and that is an enormous accomplishment. The flow of the documentary is great. It addresses the systemic misogyny in our country with color and light which will allow us to look directly at it and give us the words to express it.

Very insightful although parts were hard to watch. I am writing this review only to speak of the documentaries glaring problem. Some of the people speaking for Brooke were very adamant to soley blame men for her sexual exploitation and yes men should not be casting children in such provocative roles *but* the root of Brookes exploitation was primarily caused by her mother. Jobs aren't forced and the mother accepted these inappropriate jobs for her daughter. This is mostly glossed over and instead her actions are excused by harping on the fact that her mother was the "victim of a hard life", I would have liked the documentary much more if these speakers were not in it as their opinions are irresponsible and hurt feminism.

Guess I never knew much about Brook Shields. Of course you know the face, but how much more? I remember Blue Lagoon but not much else. I remember hearing the name "Pretty Baby" but I never actually saw the movie. So, I guess I'm probably like a lot of people who really only knew of Brook Shields through her modeling. I did watch Suddenly Susan from time to time also but didn't really like it. I recognized Brook as a talented comedian but again, never really gave her much attention beyond that.

Watching the documentary on Hulu accomplished multiple things for me. First, I realized just how damaged Brook Shields is thanks to the terrible parenting she suffered through as a child. If the 2-part series is to be believed, her Mother Teri basically pimped Brook out to anyone willing to pay. Sure the industry itself can certainly be blamed for taking advantage of a beautiful young girl but the two people who should've been keeping her safe, her parents, completely let her down. So in my mind, the documentary is a sad tale about a kid who was abandoned by one parent and completely abused by the other. I'm truly amazed Brook survived her childhood. So while the documentary is interesting, it's also depressing. Overall, I think it was done well but there was one glaring omission, the Father. He basically escapes the whole process here. I'd like to know how he felt about his Wife pimping out his Daughter?

One reviewer said they remembered it all - so do I. And that they now understand what was behind it all. Again, I found that interesting because it affected all women and people of less power.

Another reviewer was unhappy that she didn't name the rapist. I wish she had too, but that's a massive legal problem that she didn't want to take on - and we don't have to pay for. But, I'm betting we all know who it was.

The one question that woke me up and that I am ashamed of myself for not asking is: Where the hell was her father in all of this? Why didn't he take the reins away from mom once in a while and protect her from some of the flagrant missteps of mom?

It's all hindsight, and this was a really good documentary because it seems to have made a lot of us actually think!

Its hard to give this any less than a 10 - for Brooke's willingness to share her story with the world - knowing a lot of people are going to have a lot to say.

The challenge comes when things are reviewed in retrospect. The media industry allowed and encouraged the distribution of Blue Lagoon and Pretty Baby and the success of those films encouraged the genre to grow more. Even Roman Polanski remains a celebrated director in spite of his pleading guilty to terrible crimes again minors.

This is a tough one to gauge - the Kardashian's aren't far off from the reality here and they are thriving.

The good news in all of this is that Brooke's mother insisted Brooke stay in college - and Brooke admits that was a critical turning point in her own life - where she learned to be her own voice. If her mother was so obsessed with controlling her - I don't know if that encouragement would have happened.

I wonder what her mother would say now - looking back on the explicit sexuality of Brooke's earlier films. As a young teenager, Blue Lagoon was one of my favorite films but watching those film selects now - as an adult - I am completely horrified.

All the best to Brooke - she seems like a strong and wonderful woman.