[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Brooke Shields opened up about a difficult time in his life for the first time.
according to Entertainment Weeklythe 57-year-old actress revealed in her new documentary Beautiful Babywhich premiered in Sundance Film Festival there, she was sexually assaulted shortly after graduating from college Princeton in 1987. Without giving the name of her rapist, Brooke recalled in the doc that she was looking to return to the Hollywood scene after school and struggling to find work, so she met with him for dinner to discuss some potential projects. After the meeting, the unknown assailant was convinced Blue Lagoon star to go to the hotel, so he can call her a taxi to take her home:
“He said, ‘Go back to the hotel and I’ll call a taxi.’ And I went up to the hotel room, and he disappeared for a moment.
Being uncomfortable with the situation, Brooke said she tried to distract herself and took the binoculars someone had left in the room to see some volleyball players out the window. But things changed when he suddenly returned to the room – naked:
“The door opens, people come out naked, and I have binoculars and I’m like, ‘S**t.’ And I put the binoculars down and he’s right next to me. It’s like wrestling.”
During the horrific attack, Brooke explained that she did not try to run or fight back because she was afraid she would become physically violent:
“I was afraid I was going to choke or something. So I didn’t put up much of a fight. I didn’t. I just really froze. I thought one ‘No’ was enough, and I just thought, ‘Stay alive and get out,’ and I just shut up. God God knows I know how disassociated from the body. I have practiced that…”
After it was over, the model left the room, got off the elevator, took a cab, and “just cried all the way to my friend’s apartment.” So, it’s horrible. And for a long time, Brooke admits she couldn’t process the fact that she was raped – even though she was a security specialist. Gavin de Becker show him:
“He said, ‘It’s rape.’ And I said, ‘I don’t want to believe it.’
He continued:
“That’s what I had to do in my brain. He told me, ‘I can trust you and I can’t trust people.’ It’s so cliché, it’s practically pathetic. I believe somehow I put out a message and that’s how the message is received. I drink wine at dinner. I go up to my room. I just believe so much.”
While Brooke never met the man in person, she shared that he wrote her a letter a few years later – which she ignored:
“I just put my hands up and said, ‘You know what, I refuse to be a victim because this happens no matter who you are and no matter if you think you’re ready or not.’ I wanted to remove everything from my mind and body and stay on the path I was on. The system never came to help me. So I just had to be strong on my own.”
Sending love and support to Brooke after she opened up about a painful and traumatic time in her life.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, check them out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via MEGA/WENN]