Brooke Shields spent Valentine's Day at Greenville luncheon, speaks on child exploitation

A Greenville sold-out crowd spent a Valentine's Day lunch with actress and author Brooke Shields, who gave the room something to laugh about with her most embarrassing moment.

In comedic fashion, Shields said she found a pair of underpants balled up inside of the pants she was wearing to a friend's funeral. The underpants were on the outside of another pair she was wearing.

"I said, what is this because I felt them balled up," Shields said when someone from the crowd asked her most embarrassing moment. "It was the underpants."

But Shields also made the stop to talk about the serious topic of sexual exploitation of underage girls. The talk came on Feb. 14 as part of the Julie Valentine Center's 50th anniversary luncheon at the Greenville Convention Center. She talked to about 1,300 people for nearly 30 minutes.

Shields, 58, talked about her childhood fame experiences working as an underaged girl in an all-adult modeling and film industry and about her work today.

"I wake up as a mom first. That's the first thing (that consumes me) ... and I'm really proud of that," she said to the crowd.

Julie Valentine Center's mission is to stop sexual violence and child abuse and the impact of these crimes through prevention, investigation, collaboration, treatment, and advocacy, according to its website.

Shields said she feels a responsibility as a representation of childhood exploitation and advocacy of the work and services of the Julie Valentine Center, which provides recovery support for nearly 2,200 people per year in Greenville County.

Brooke Shields early start in modeling came as Ivory Snow Baby

Shields modeling career started as the Ivory Snow Baby when she was 11 months old. Her biggest claim to fame came later when she was 12 years old in the movie "Pretty Baby." The film focuses on a 12-year-old girl being raised in a brothel in the red-light district of New Orleans by her prostitute mother. The movie contained adult themes and scenes.

Other films she made at a young age include, "The Blue Lagoon (1980)" and "Endless Love (1981)." She caught headline attention again with a Calvin Klein jean commercial with the famous line, "Want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."

She is older now and making her own career decisions. In April 2023, Shields released her two-part documentary "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields." The documentary premiered on Hulu, where she discussed her resilience through the entertainment industry.

"I was afraid I would be blacklisted in Hollywood, so for many decades I held in what I had experienced," Shields said. "But, I never looked at myself as a victim, my mother protected me from people getting close to me."

Helping Julie Valentine nonprofit with Brooke Shields' star power

At Wednesday's luncheon in Greenville, Shields said she made the documentary for others to identify with and not for herself, as she never considered herself a victim.

Shields also recently launched a podcast titled "Now What" and is working on an upcoming book centered around humility and the beauty of aging.

According to Shauna Galloway-Williams, CEO of the Julie Valentine Center, Wednesday's luncheon goal was to raise $450,000 to provide confidential services to Julie Valentine Center recipients.

"Brooke's story spoke to me on so many levels as a woman, mother and survivor of people I work with. She's the perfect fit," said Galloway-Williams. "We are honoring our legacy of being the first rape crisis center in South Carolina. I want survivors to know it's never too late to reach out and get support."

– A.J. Jackson covers the food & dining scene, along with arts, entertainment and downtown culture for The Greenville News. Contact him by email at ajackson@gannett.com, and follow him on X (formally Twitter) @ajhappened.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Brooke Shields helps Greenville's Julie Valentine Center raise $450,000