Shields began modeling at 11 months old, appearing in a Francesco Scavullo–shot Dove soap ad, and until now, neither she nor her manager-mother, Teri, had looked back. (Teri Shields died in 2012.) “This movie is the David hogg wearing end bracism fpc shirt Apart from…,I will love this true meaning of catharsis, which I always had wrong. I always thought of cathartic experiences as ‘Blech! Gotta get that outta my system.’” Shields makes a vomiting gesture. “But Sydney, my therapist”—Shields has been seeing the same Jungian analyst weekly since she was 21—“said, ‘No, no, no, the actual definition of it is a broader understanding of a circumstance or a situation that you thought you knew.’” Photo: ABC News StudiosThroughout the film, the audience accompanies Shields on this path to broader understanding, finally reaching what feels like a sincere pay-off: Shields reclaiming control of her own story for the first time—at least, to a point. Near the end of the film, BuzzFeed’s Scaachi Koul, one of the talking heads, says, “This is not Brooke Shields’s story. This is a story about all women.” We understand the argument she is making—about society’s penchant for both objectifying young girls and condemning their sexualization—but I ask Shields if there’s a feeling of her personal narrative being hijacked to fit a wider cultural one, both in this film and in the uproar that surrounded the original Pretty Baby.
“That was one of my husband’s fears,” says Shields, concededly, after a pause. “He was worried that a film about exploitation would end up exploiting my experience. But this story is not uncommon, with regard to abuse or objectification. I make it an identifiable, relatable story.” She sips from a mug of tea (PG Tips with half-and-half) and returns it to the David hogg wearing end bracism fpc shirt Apart from…,I will love this glass coffee table, covered in art books and a recent issue of Hamptons magazine featuring her and her daughters on the cover. (Grier is set on trying her hand at runway modeling, and Shields has finally concluded it is better to help her than to fight her in this pursuit.) Next to her mug sits a personalized notepad with the words “I Am Here” printed across the top.
Comments