'Fought it for so long': Brooke Shields never wanted her daughter Grier Hammond Henchy to model
This article contains a recollection of sexual assault and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Brooke Shields shared her concerns as her teenage daughter, Grier Hammond Henchy, has decided to become a model. The 58-year-old actress disclosed that, at first, she was not ready to allow the 17-year-old to pursue her dream, but she eventually agreed.
The ‘Endless Love’ star told ‘Live with Kelly and Mark’ as per PEOPLE, “The rules have changed since I was [a model]. I fought it for so long. It’s such a different industry now than it was. That’s brutal and backstage is just brutal.”
‘Not going to be comfortable’
However, Shields also went on to share why she let Grier work toward her aim. She said, “I finally had to give in and say if you’re gonna do this a.) I’m not gonna be your manager. You're going to be with an agency. You’re going to have a great work ethic. It’s not going to be comfortable and you're gonna listen to me.”
The actress spoke about her own experience as a newbie in the industry. “My mom was my manager and we were glued at the hip, which probably was how I could survive because you couldn’t get to me. She was such a mama bear and so protective. On the one hand I was very naive and on the other I was just thrown into this crazy world,” she added.
‘It's taken me a long time to process it’
This comes as Shields revealed her difficult past while discussing her ‘Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby’ documentary. She said, “Doing the documentary, you see it all together, and it's a miracle that I survived. It's taken me a long time to process it. I'm more angry now than I was able to be then. If you're afraid, you're rightfully so. They are scary situations. They don't have to be violent to be scary.”
‘The Blue Lagoon’ actress claimed that she was raped by a Hollywood executive decades ago. She stated, “I thought I was getting a movie, a job.” But instead, she was abused. “I didn't fight. I just froze,” she explained in her documentary.
‘Fight was not an option’
She stated, “I kept saying, 'I shouldn't have done that. Why did I go up with him? I shouldn't have had that drink at dinner.’ It was really easy to disassociate because by then it was old hat. And because it was a fight-or-flight type of choice. Fight was not an option, so you just leave your body. 'You're not there. It didn't happen.’” Shields was only 15 when she became the 'Calvin Klein girl' that made her the nation's sex symbol. She recalls, “I'd always had a sense of disassociation from my body. From my sexuality. I was mostly a cover girl, so it's all here [in the face]. And it was just easier to shut myself off. I was good at it.”
