“I was Shocked”: Shields’ Younger Daughter ‘Had No Idea’ That Her Mom was sexually assaulted

Model and actress Brooke Shields is well-known for her candor regarding her experiences in show business. But until recently, her younger daughter was mainly unaware of one particularly horrific portion of her life: her childhood sexual assault. The tragic reality about her mother’s past was finally revealed to her daughter after she watched the documentary “Pretty Baby.”

Brooke’s Younger Daughter Learns The Truth 

The younger daughter of Brooke Shields claims that she “couldn’t even get through” the 2023 documentary, “Pretty Baby,” and that learning about her mother’s sexual assault was difficult. 

“Part of being a mom is learning from your kids,” Brooke said in an interview. In a special interview that appears in this week’s cover story with her children, Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18. That’s what happened last year when the documentary Pretty Baby about her life was released. 

The six-decade career of the actress and beauty icon was examined in the documentary, along with her unique life. Additionally, it was the first time she disclosed that she had been sexually abused in her early 20s by a prominent Hollywood personality, whom she declined to identify.

What Was Her Daughter’s Reaction? 

Grier was unaware of the attack, but her older daughter Rowan was. And her younger daughter was taken aback by it.

“I didn’t prepare her,” says Brooke, 59. “It was a miscommunication. I had explained it was an exploration of sexualization of women in my industry but I was naive thinking that because we had such a solid, healthy, fairly normal existence and I’m not completely damaged that she would say, ‘Wow you’ve come through a lot but look where we are today.’” 

“I was learning about things the same time that the world was and I just took it more deeply and personally,” says Grier. “I couldn’t even get through it.”

Says Brooke, “I told her ‘but there’s a happy ending’ and she said, ‘I will never be okay with thinking something bad happened to you.’” 

“She ended up missing the happy part,” Brooke says, who shares both daughters with her comedy writer husband Chris Henchy. “She felt helpless, and just as a mom, we make mistakes and sometimes we make assumptions.” 

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