Brooke Shields Opens Up About Being Raped In Her 20s In New Documentary, 'Pretty Baby'

American actress and model Brooke Shields has revealed for the first time that she was raped as a young girl in her new documentary.

She disclosed in the Hulu documentary "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields" that the disturbing event happened to her in her twenties. The documentary examines the actress's ascent to fame and her life as a rising star while she was still a young actress.

Shields first rose to fame for her leading role in the critically acclaimed 1978 film "Pretty Baby." The "Endless Love" actress also discussed the "complex" state of her relationship with her mother, calling her a controversial person.

Read on to learn more.

The actress, who has frequently talked about how she was sexualized as a young child in Hollywood, has now opened up about the sexual assault she experienced in her early 20s.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Shields revealed in her recently released documentary "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields" that she was raped by a man she knew shortly after graduating from Princeton, at a time when she was having trouble finding employment following her initial success as a child star.

The actress narrated that she had dinner with the unnamed man to discuss work stuff, after which he reportedly convinced her to go back to his hotel room, where he'd call her a cab.

Shields explained that the man disappeared shortly after they got there and came back to the room naked, after which he sexually assaulted her.

The "Blue Lagoon" actress continued by saying that she refrained from trying to fight back out of fear that doing so might provoke further physical harm. "I was afraid I'd get choked out or something," she said. "So I didn't fight that much. I didn't. I just absolutely froze."

Shields then pointed out that she believed saying "no" once would be enough to forestall the act, adding that she thought to herself to "stay alive and get out."

"God knows I knew how to be disassociated from my body. I'd practiced that... I went down in the elevator, and I got my own cab. I just cried all the way to my friend's apartment," she described.

Shields was unable to recognize what had happened to her for what it was, even after an aide pointed out the obvious to her. She claimed the assistant had said, "That's rape," to which she replied, "I'm not willing to believe that."

Shields, 57, told The Hollywood Reporter, per ABC News, "I didn't know if or when or if I was ever going to bring this up. It has taken me many years of therapy to even be able to talk about it."

"I definitely have worked very hard through it, and I've learned to process it," she added. The actress explained that she couldn't help but blame herself for being assaulted.

"That was what I had to do to my brain," she admits. "He said to me, 'I can trust you, and I can't trust people.' It's so cliché, it's practically pathetic. I believed somehow I put out a message and that was how the message was received. I drank wine at dinner. I went up to the room. I just was so trusting."

Per ABC News, Shields stated on the red carpet for the documentary's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, "I would like people to be able to find their story within the story."

"Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields" examines Shields' early years and rise to fame while shedding light on how society objectifies women and girls, particularly in Hollywood. It was inspired by Shields' 1978 breakthrough film "Pretty Baby."

The actress also discusses her "complex" relationship with her mother in her documentary, saying that "she's always been a very controversial figure."

Shields had previously documented the state of their relationship in a 2014 USA Today interview, describing their bond as "enmeshed."

"The love was so intense," she said. "My mom came before anybody. I thought she was God, I thought she could change the weather. It was us against the world."

"Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields" will be available to stream on Hulu.