Brooke Shields opened up about some of the uncomfortable things she had to do while working on a movie she claims ‘wouldn’t be allowed’ now.
The actor, now 59, was just 14-years-old when she took on the role of Emmeline Lestrange in the 1980 movie The Blue Lagoon, in which she starred alongside Christopher Atkins, who played her cousin Richard.
Despite the familial link between the two characters, they go on to have a baby together after they find themselves shipwrecked on a tropical island in the South Pacific.
The synopsis explains that Richard and Emmeline live a ‘simple life’, but it’s when ‘sexual maturity’ begins to emerge that things get more complicated.
The concept of cousins having a baby together is controversial enough as it is, but the movie only raised more eyebrows due to the age of the actors at the time.
While Shields was 14, Atkins was four years her senior at around 18 years old.
Speaking on her ‘Now What? With Brooke Shields’ podcast, the actor sat down with Atkins to discuss their time on the movie.
Looking back, she said: “Never again will a movie be made like that ever. I mean, it wouldn’t be allowed.”
Atkins went on to allege that the nude scenes in the film were ‘important’ to director Randal Kleiser, and the pair described being encouraged to tan their skin in ‘little thatched areas’, where they could sun themselves without getting tan lines.
Atkins recalled: “There were scenes where I was butt naked with you, if you remember, sliding down that slide and things like that.
“And that was a little awkward, but it was kind of funny for me because at this point in time I would just do it. But your reaction was: ‘Ugh, oh god’.”
Shields also addressed uncomfortable memories, claiming that while she had a body double for nude scenes, she was encouraged to pursue a real-life romance with her co-star.
“They wanted us so desperately to fall in love with each other,” she said. “I did not react well being forced into feeling anything. I hadn’t even kissed anybody by that age.”
Shields’ comments came after she previously spoke about The Blue Lagoon in her 2023 documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.
In the doc, she claimed creators ‘wanted to sell [her] actual sexual awakening’, saying: “The irony was, I wasn’t in touch with any of my own sexuality.”
