- Brooke Shields said she was sexually assaulted by a Hollywood executive over 30 years ago.
- She'd gone to dinner with the man in hopes of getting a job at the "lowest point of my career."
Booke Shields revealed she was sexually assaulted over 30 years ago by an unnamed Hollywood executive and had to "leave" her body during the attack.
In a recent interview with People editor Liz McNeil, Sheilds explained why she told very few people about the incident when it occurred.
"No one is going to believe me," she said of her mindset at the time. "People weren't believing those stories back then. I thought I would never work again."
She said she was in her 20s when the assault occurred. She had recently graduated college and was at the "lowest point of my career." She wasn't getting much work at the time, and agreed to go to dinner with the man (who is described by McNeil as "powerful") because she thought they'd be discussing "a job."
After dinner, she said he invited her up to his hotel room to call a cab and assaulted her once they were alone. Entertainment Weekly reported details of the alleged assault in detail when "Pretty Baby" premiered at the Sundance Film festival in January.
During a scene in the film, Shields reportedly shared that she was looking at a pair of binoculars in the hotel room when "the door opens, the person comes out naked, and I've got the binoculars and I'm like, 'Shit,' And I put the binoculars down and he's right on me. Just like, was wrestling."
"I was afraid I'd get choked out or something," she reportedly continued. "So I didn't fight that much. I didn't. I just absolutely froze. I thought one 'No' should've been enough, and I just thought, 'Stay alive and get out,' and I just shut it out. God knows I knew how to be disassociated from my body. I'd practiced that.... I went down in the elevator, and I got my own cab. I just cried all the way to my friend's apartment."
Shields was thrust into the spotlight at a young age and sexualized early because of her roles in movies like "Pretty Baby" (in which she played a child prostitute) and "The Blue Lagoon" (in which she played a young girl stranded on an island who becomes an object of fascination for her male peer). "I'd always had a sense of disassociation from my body. From my sexuality," she told McNeil, adding that as a "cover girl" model, "it was just easier to shut myself off. I was good at it."
Recalling the assault, Shields said she initially blamed herself. "I kept saying, 'I shouldn't have done that. Why did I go up with him? I shouldn't have had that drink at dinner.'"
"It was really easy to disassociate because by then it was old hat," she continued, describing her emotional state during the assault. "And because it was a fight-or-flight type of choice. Fight was not an option, so you just leave your body. 'You're not there. It didn't happen.'"
The "Suddenly Susan" star, 57, said she's sharing her story now "with the hopes of helping people not feel alone." She hadn't shared the story with many people before now because she said it's taken her this long to process what happened to her, and she now wants to be "an advocate for women to be able to speak their truth" in their own time.
In a video accompanying People's story, Shields said it's a "gift....to still love to hate the industry but still love what I do."
"Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields" will be available to stream April 3 on Hulu.