‘Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields’ Trailer Teases ABC’s Documentary Event!! Check It Out!!

The ugly side of Hollywood is on full display in a new trailer for ABC’s two-part documentary event Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. Set to release on April 3, the Lana Wilson-directed documentary looks back on the career of Brooke Shields who began professionally modeling at 11 months old and later became a Hollywood darling for her beauty. She was also horrifically exploited as a young woman, forced into overly-sexual roles as a minor, and constantly defined by her physical appeal. The trailer displays the predatory nature of the industry toward Shields and other young women while also providing hope by setting up how Shields took her identity back, defining herself as so much more than a pretty face.

“The most photographed woman in the world,” Shields became the face of the 80s for her beauty. Through awkward talk show interactions and photo shoots, the footage frames her slimy treatment in the eyes of the public, teasing a deeper exploration into all the little ways she was commodified and controlled. Despite being a literal child, she was thrown into a world of adults in an insidious manner to define her as a sex symbol with highly-sexualized roles like Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon and in Calvin Klein ads further highlighting her appearance. Moreover, some focus will be on Shields‘s mother and manager Teri Shields for how her career was handled. Most of all, the trailer emphasizes that what happened to Shields is not unique but rather a systemic problem facing all women in the industry that still exists today through the unattainable beauty standards that are widely pushed.

Despite everything, Shields fought like hell to shed the stereotypes, attending college and eventually re-entering the industry as an adult with recent films like A Castle for Christmas and Netflix‘s upcoming Mother of the Bride. She’ll give her own perspective in the two-part documentary on how she ultimately found the freedom to be herself by constantly pushing forward. Long-acting as an advocate for others like her, Shields‘ message is sure to be a powerful one for both mothers and young women looking for a spark of hope in an industry that still has a long way to go.

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields‘s Message Is Already Hitting Home With Audiences

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields made its world debut amidst a crowded field at Sundance earlier this year and resonated with critics and audiences in a major way. It currently sits at a 91% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes with many praising Wilson‘s direction and Shields‘s eye-opening story. For Wilson, it’s her second documentary in a row following the travails of female celebrity after releasing the award-winning Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana in 2020.

In addition to Wilson, Pretty Baby has Ali Wentworth, Alyssa Mastromonaco, George Stephanopoulos, Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin, Jacqueline Glover, and Jennifer Joseph on board as executive producers. The documentary marks the first project for Wentworth, Mastromanco, and Stephanopoulos‘s new banner BedBy8 which produced the event with ABC News Studios and Matador Content. Wilson also reunites with her Miss Americana producer Christine O’Malley who also joins Jack Turner on the production end.