Brooke Shields got candid about the traumatic experience she had at the hands of a medical professional in her upcoming memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman. She remembered the shame and the violation she felt upon learning that her doctor had performed an unwanted vaginal rejuvenation without her consent when she was in her 40s.
Among the number of personal stories she shared in the book, the 59-year-old opened up about the traumatic experience after her “wonderful” gynecologist asked if the length of her labia had ever caused any discomfort. She shared that she had actually experienced chafing and bleeding when she was in high school, and when told that a surgical reduction was possible, then she agreed to do the procedure with a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.
Shields went into detail about the surgery in an interview with US Weekly. “Of course, it’s not covered by insurance because it’s considered cosmetic, which is very interesting. The last time I did check, I did not want to be a porn star,” Shields shared, explaining that she had “heard about porn stars” doing the labia reduction for aesthetic purposes.
In her book, the Blue Lagoon star apologized to her readers who might think her story is “too graphic or simply TMI, as some generations still call it.” But admitted that she would “be lying” if she said that she isn’t “embarrassed to share this very intimate information.”
But what she didn’t consent to getting was a vaginal rejuvenation, or a tightening of the vagina performed for various medical or sexual reasons. Shields shared that she learned about it during a post-op checkup with her surgeon, who made the shocking revelation that “he threw in a little bonus.” The actress was left “dumbfounded” after he “legitimately proudly explained to [her] that he threw in a little twofer [two-for-one].”
“It felt like such an invasion — such a bizarre, like, rape of some kind,” the actress shared, adding that she didn’t tell her husband, comedy writer and producer Chris Henchy, that she had undergone the unwanted “irreversible” procedure “for the longest time” because she felt both shame and anger.
Shields shared: “Nothing pointed toward this need to be tighter or smaller or firmer or younger, especially there.” She noted that both she and her gynecologist were enraged, but she decided not to take further actions, legal or otherwise, because she didn’t want anybody else telling her what she had to do.
She said the experience left her feeling ashamed, but she chose to share it with her readers as she explained her book: “If we are to change the way we approach and talk about women’s health, then we need to bring up the uncomfortable but very real issues. Shame is no longer an option.”
Shields has not hesitated from talking about past traumas and also revealed in her 2023 Hulu documentary Pretty Baby that she was sexually assaulted in her 20s by a Hollywood executive, whom she didn’t name. She shared of her daughters’ reaction to the revelation in an interview with People, saying that her elder daughter Rowan, 22, already knew of the assault. But her youngest daughter, Grier, 19, didn’t, and she was left feeling helpless.
Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman comes out on Jan. 14. In an Instagram post promoting her book, the actress shared her hope that it will “start a conversation about how midlife can be the prime of life.”
