Brooke Shields & Drew Barrymore Discuss #MeToo At Length, Recall Being Sexualised In Hollywood

In a candid exchange, Brooke Shields and Drew Barrymore discussed the conflicting feelings they were experiencing at the outset of the #MeToo movement.

The Beautiful Baby actress discussed the costs of being sexualized as a young girl in Hollywood while appearing as a guest on The Drew Barrymore Show to promote her two-part documentary titled Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.

After the #MeToo movement gained greater notoriety in 2017, Barrymore questioned Shields about how she felt.

"I didn't feel like I had a dog in that race. I didn't feel like I could speak to it, because I experienced things that were so inappropriate at such a young age,” Barrymore said. "We were children. How did that movement affect you? Did you feel like you could speak to it?”?

Shields claimed that because she was unsure about her place on the spectrum, she didn't feel qualified to speak to the movement. She continued by saying that she was unsure of how to interpret her personal experiences.

“I was made to feel culpable, but at the same time you victim-shame yourself. We were so young and it was so ‘appropriate,’” Shields said, using air quotes around the word. “I couldn’t feel sorry. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know.”

Shields continued by saying that she forbade herself from emotionally processing the trauma once she knew the behaviour she was seeing was improper.

Barrymore admitted that she related, particularly not realising how wrong prior interactions were as she held hands with Shields on the couch of the show.

“I felt like I couldn't speak to the movement, and I was so happy that it was happening, but I felt like I experienced too many things that were so gray and so awkward and I didn't know were wrong at the time,” Barrymore said.

The two women concurred that, in retrospect, they realised how serious and terrible the events they underwent were, especially given that they are both moms of daughters.

During the Glamour Awards in November 2017, according to People magazine, Barrymore reportedly told reporters that she had never been the victim of sexual harassment or assault but praised other women in the industry who were speaking out.

“I was scrappy. Nobody messed with me,” Barrymore said at the event. “I think it’s an extraordinary time for women, and we have to encourage all of this strength.”

Shields discusses her experience filming the contentious 1980 movie The Blue Lagoon in her documentary. Although being only 14, she said that director Randal Kleiser wanted to advertise the movie around her sex appeal.

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