Brooke Baldwin Reflects on Painful Childhood Memory
Brooke Baldwin recently shared a deeply personal experience from her childhood—the time her father hit her with a belt so many times that she awoke “black and blue on my backside.” This revelation, made public for the first time, was highlighted in her Substack newsletter, “Unraveling,” after Baldwin spent over two weeks interviewing women for her journalism project, “America, Tell Me Everything.”
In her newsletter, Baldwin writes about a vivid memory from elementary school involving her father’s belt. “I’ve never shared this story before,” she admits. The recollection was triggered by an interview with another woman from the South who recounted being spanked as a child.
She recalled the anxiety that would wash over her in anticipation of the punishment, even though the specifics of her misdeed have faded from memory. “The full-body panic. The anxiety of knowing the pain was coming. And also the semi-defiance: do itttttt,” Baldwin wrote.
It seems likely that the trouble stemmed from her interactions with her younger brother, as Baldwin suspects she might have taken the blame for something he did, being the older sibling. Nonetheless, one particular incident exceeded what would be considered a typical spanking.
“One time, I got belted so many times I woke up black and blue on my backside,” Baldwin reflected. “Let the record reflect… this ended up being my last spanking.”
As she prepared to attend sleepaway camp that week, Baldwin felt “mortified” that others might see her bruises while changing or showering. In a moment of vulnerability, she showed the marks to her mother, which she today interprets as her young attempt to protest. “This was my little-girl-way of speaking up. Do you see me? This hurt. This is not okay,” she expressed. “I remember being furious. I remember trying to make her feel terrible.”
Reflecting on this years later, Baldwin wondered if her mother was also grappling with her own shame regarding the punishment and their family dynamics. “I watched my mother defer, over and over, to choices my father made about me—decisions some part of me knew weren’t really his to make alone,” she wrote.
Despite her complex feelings, Baldwin assured readers that she loves her mother and believes she did the best she could under the circumstances. “But I also know that sometimes, someone has to be the one to break the cycle,” she noted, acknowledging that it’s often not the generation that initiates it.
This personal account emerged as she documented her journey with “America, Tell Me Everything,” an independent reporting initiative she had mentioned previously. Baldwin has been candid about several significant experiences from her life this year.
In July, she discussed her views on casual relationships, revealing that four men had recently shown interest in her. One had significant political influence, while another traveled just to take her out for dinner. However, Baldwin decided against pursuing any of these encounters, emphasizing that her choice to abstain from sex didn’t stem from a lack of desire.
“And y’all know… I love sex. If I may be so bold, I’m pretty damn good at it,” she wrote at the time. Though she stated that casual encounters remained an option, she was intentionally focusing her energy elsewhere in her life.
Baldwin has also opened up about a different traumatic experience, revealing she suspects she may have been assaulted at 21 during a spring break trip to Los Angeles. She recounted being approached by two older men at a bar who offered her a drink, recalling fragments of what happened afterward, including waking up half-dressed on a bathroom floor in the Chateau Marmont.
“For years, I did not have language for what I believed may have been done to me,” she shared.
The Post has reached out to Baldwin for further comment.
