Today, it is firmly understood that it is never okay to portray a minor in a sexual manner, but just 45 years ago, Brooke Shields played a child who worked in a brothel and kissed middle-aged men at just 12 years old. Shields reflects on how far feminism has come from those early moments in her career in her new documentary series “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.” 

“Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” is a mini series documentary that was released on Hulu on April 3. Brooke Shields, her friends (such as Drew Barrymore and Laura Linney) and pop culture experts tell the story of Shields’ career — with the discussion ranging from her hypersexualized childhood to her adulthood in which she found agency over her own body. 

The mini series is split into two parts, with the first part focusing on the choices that were made for her in her adolescence and the second part pivots to her as a college student figuring out what she wanted from life throughout her adulthood.  

Shields started off modeling in soap ads as a baby and later moved into acting in films such as “Pretty Baby," where she played the aforementioned role of a child that worked in a brothel. She later joined the 1980 film “The Blue Lagoon,” where she was at least half naked most of the movie at the age of 14 and “Endless Love,” in which she performed a sex scene at the age of 15. 

The title “Endless Love” might seem familiar because a remake was released in 2014 with one very big difference — the main characters were above the age of consent in real life. Shields said that the director of “Endless Love” would twist her toe to get a look of “ecstasy” from her during sex scenes, which Shields had no concept of at the time. 

After showing all the inappropriate roles Shields had as a child and teen, the series is wrapped up in a full-circle way with Shields talking with her own daughters over dinner. Her oldest daughter says that she would never watch her mother's films because she was naked in them at such a young age. Her older daughter drew a parallel between her mother’s movies and a modern-day example in “Euphoria,” a show featuring sex and drugs with minors, although the cast of teenage characters are all portrayed by actors above the age of 21.

The series gives such a well-rounded overview of the culture in Hollywood throughout Shields’ career. Not only does it show how she was sexually portrayed as a child in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but even how feminism was still a work in progress in the ‘90s. Shields landed her own sitcom, “Suddenly Susan,” in 1996 which was a huge feat because people didn't think women could be funny and pretty, Ali Wentworth, an actress, said.

“There's this whole thing in the entertainment industry where women can't be pretty and funny. You can't be on the cover of magazines and be gorgeous and also go be a comedian, pick a lane,” Wentworth said. 

However, the writers kept writing her character the same way every episode, as a clumsy woman, rather than giving her character depth in the storyline. This led to the show being canceled four years later. 

Although the series shows the dark side of Hollywood's depiction of women, Shields made sure to acknowledge the arguments of both sides, giving a holistic view of the thinking that went into the films she starred in. Shields is often seen explaining the art of a film that she was sexualized in. 

Despite Shields’ mother being criticized for being overbearing and allowing her daughter to play sexualized roles, Shields also stood up for her mother.

“Stage mother was her label very early on and in auditions you would hear the (other) stage mothers go ‘I’ll buy you a bike if you go in there,’” Shields said. “(My mother) never did that. She just had this faith that it was going to work out for us.”

Shields clearly doesn't condone what happened to her, and the footage of her older movies does the talking by showing just how inappropriate her roles were. This is juxtaposed by Shields giving a larger perspective on the films that allows for not just one person to be villainized. 

The connection to her real life pulls at the heartstrings of viewers from dissociating when she was sexually assaulted as an adult like she would do while filming sex scenes as a child, to freaking out after losing her virginity because she thought her boyfriend would look at her differently. 

She leaves no rock unturned as she also touches on how she had postpartum depression after having her first child along with Tom Cruise publicly opposing her choice to take antidepressants instead of vitamins. 

Throughout the second part of the documentary, she tries to find agency over herself as an adult. The end shows her detaching from the commodity she once was and “coming home” to herself after starting a clothing brand featuring women of all ages and sizes. 

“(It is the) first time in 56 years that I'm owning my identity fully,” Shields said. 

The experts that were brought into the series also added a depth of understanding. Author Jean Kilbourne was a huge contributor to this documentary as she commented on how beauty standards are constantly changing and why children started to become exploited. 

“(If) you’re not going to be traditionally feminine — which traditionally meant powerless, submissive, dependent — we’ll replace you with little girls,” Kilbourne said.

Shields’ story resonates with many women from generations before, during and after her own. Shields says that her mother was reduced to beauty standards, she was reduced to her body and women today still struggle with trying to be desirable to men. However, with people like Shields bringing these topics to light, feminism will hopefully continue to manifest into future generations of independent thinking women.