Brooke Shields' New Bathing Suit Photo Is Sexy, But Comparing It to 'Blue Lagoon' Is Not

Blake Shields has been performing for nearly her entire life — no, seriously. The first role you likely know her from — and the one that catapulted her name and face into stardom — is The Blue Lagoon, one of the worst-rated movies of 1980 that nonetheless helped launch Shields’ career. Blue Lagoon went on to become a cult classic: but did you know that Shields filmed it when she was only 14? (No, she did not film any of the nude scenes, but still.) With Shields’ latest sexy beachside bathing suit photo, the comparisons to Blue Lagoon are already rolling in in the comments, and we need to draw a line. Shields today, posing for this photo at age 55, is sexy as hell. Shields sexualized by adult viewers at age 14 is something else entirely.

A few things strike us as the same between Blue Lagoon and Shields’ new Instagram: there’s the long, flowing golden hair, the seaside backdrop, and…that’s it. Because the main focus here (let’s be honest) is Shields’ smoking hot body, which looks absolutely nothing like the body of a 14-year-old.

In the year 2020, Shields has a body she works hard for, takes good care of, and knows exactly how to show off, working her angles in true supermodel style as she throws her head back. At age 14, she was a child cast in a fairly adult role whose image was manipulated by other adults for maximum titillation. Shields’ photo and the inevitable Blue Lagoon associations that come with it should be a wake-up call about our society’s insistence that women physically peak in their teenage years, despite all evidence to the contrary, and a call to think long and hard about the beauty ideals imposed by Hollywood to this day.

In case you’re still not understanding the problem with saying this photo looks “just like Blue Lagoon, here’s a one-liner: This, right here, age 55, is Shields at her red-hottest, a sexy starlet in control of her image and in the best shape of her life — not her at 25, not 20, and most certainly not at 14 in Blue Lagoon.

Before you go, click here to see kids who are following in their supermodel moms’ footsteps.

Launch Gallery: Famous Actors You Didn't Know Started on Soap Operas

More from SheKnows

• These Daughters Look Just Like Their Famous Moms

Best of SheKnows

• 76 Incredible Shows on Netflix You Should Be Watching Right Now

• All the Best & Most Shocking Celebrity Memoirs You Can Read Right Now

• All the Celebrity Moms in Birthday Girl Beyoncé's Inner Circle

Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.