Celebrity3 min(s) read
People are stunned to learn Brooke Shields’ real age when she filmed one of Hollywood's most famous sex scenes
Brooke Shields found fame when she was just a teenager - but people are beginning to rediscover just how young she actually was at the height of her movie stardom.
The actress was one of the most recognizable faces on screen in the 80s thanks to starring roles in hit films like Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon.
But it was her role in Endless Love from 1981 that perhaps brought her the most notoriety - thanks to starring in one of cinema's most famous sex scenes.
Yet if you actually realize just how young Shields was when she starred in the film, it may just surprise you.
How old was Brooke Shields when she starred in Endless Love?
Endless Love tells the story of the relationship between two teenagers who have their first sexual experience with each other.
Shields portrays 15 year old Jade Butterfield, while her 17 year old boyfriend David Axelrod was played by Martin Hewitt.
The film's most notorious scene sees its two main characters have sex by a roaring fire... while the mother of Shields' character looks on.
But despite the X-rated format of the scene, Shields herself was only 16 years old, while her co-star Hewitt was 22.
What has Brooke Shields said about her role in Endless Love?
Now more than 40 years removed from the filming of Endless Love, Shields has said in interviews that attacking such mature material at such a young age was a complicated thing for her at the time.
In an interview with People, Shields recalled the film's director, Franco Zeffirelli, asking her to show "ecstasy" on her face while filming the scene of her character's first sexual encounter.
But when given the direction, Shields remembered thinking; "I don't know what that is."
To show her what he meant, Shields said Zeffirelli then twisted her toe, to which she shot back: "Really? How about [sticking to] directing?"
She went on to tell People that, despite the sexual content of the movie, she was determined, as a young girl, not to be defined sexually, especially while working.
And despite the challenges in filming Endless Love at such a young age, Shields says she did feel "safe" filming the explicit scenes.
"The reason why I was safe was because the minute they said ‘Cut,’ I would prove to everybody that I was not that character," she explained.
She went on to say that: "I’ve always had a sense of disassociation from my body, from my sexuality. I was mostly a cover girl, so it’s all here [indicating from her neck up], and it was easier just to shut myself off.”