Brooke Shields takes charge of her story in ‘Pretty Baby’

NEW YORK (AP) — Brooke Shields has been known as beautiful, smart and famous since she was a baby, but a new documentary reveals why it’s taken decades for her to feel confident in her talent.

With a dazzling array of archival photos and footage, and in-depth interviews with Shields, “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” is a firsthand examination of her success as a model, actor, author and now lifestyle entrepreneur, despite being sexualized and objectified at a young age and managing her alcoholic mother — the original “momager,” Teri Shields.

Like other recent documentaries on Britney Spears and Pamela Anderson, “Pretty Baby” includes a cringeworthy barrage of media clips where mostly older men reduce her to a pretty face and have little interest in her answers to their questions. The film, which drops in two parts on Hulu on Monday, looks back at how women were treated in the 1980’s and 1990’s — including Shields revealing she was the victim of a sexual assault by a Hollywood executive after she graduated college.

Shields spoke to The Associated Press recently about what she learned from the project, how she overcame being shamed for her personal choices and gained confidence, and how she sees her future.