I’ll Never Be Okay

Brooke Shields shared a deeply personal secret with the world in her 2023 documentary “Pretty Baby”.

However, the most profound revelation for her youngest daughter Grier, 18, was discovering that Brooke had been sexually assaulted in her early 20s by a powerful, yet unnamed Hollywood executive.

“I didn’t prepare her,” the 59-year-old told People. “It was a miscommunication.”

Brooke had initially explained the documentary as an exploration of the sexualization of women in her industry. She underestimated its impact, believing that their solid, healthy family life would soften the blow. She assumed Grier would recognize how Brooke had persevered despite her hardships.

While Brooke’s eldest daughter Rowan, 21, knew about the assault, Grier learned about the traumatic experience through the documentary itself.

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

Recalling Grier’s reaction, Brooke said: “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 added. “She felt helpless, and just as a mom, we make mistakes and sometimes we make assumptions.”

Brooke said that she has learned a lot from her experience with Grier, especially when it comes to communication.

She reflected: “To see the documentary or to see your parents as a public figure that other people have opinions on is just an odd situation. I’ve learned a lot by listening to them.”

“Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” examines the life of the legendary actress and model as she grew up in the public eye. Starting with her first modeling contract at age 11, the film delves into her role in a society that often sexualizes young women and girls, highlighting pivotal moments in her life.

Before the New York City screening of the documentary in March 2023, Brooke admitted that she had kept many secrets from her daughters, which eventually led to some conflict.

“There’s a lot in the documentary they did not know about,” she told People. “They were mad that I didn’t inform them about everything.”

Brooke shares Grier and Rowan with her husband Chris Henchy, the founder of Funny or Die. The couple married in 2001.

Rowan graduated from high school in 2021 – she wore the same strapless gown her mom wore to the 1998 Golden Globes to her senior prom. Later that year, she started college at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Grier graduated from high school in August, choosing to don the same dress Brooke wore for her wedding to tennis legend Andre Agassi in 1997.

“Her graduation dress was my first wedding dress,” Brooke told People. “She looked great in it.”

Like her famous mother, Grier has expressed interest in joining the modeling world. In 2022, she and Brooke appeared together in a Victoria’s Secret photoshoot for the brand’s Mother’s Day campaign.