Christopher Atkins is on the mend.
The “Blue Lagoon” star, 64, took to social media to share that he recently underwent surgery.
“Surgery went well. Got more metal in me. I’ll need to get to airports even earlier to get through security! Lol,” Atkins captioned his Thursday Instagram post. “Thanks for all your well wishes! Love you!”
In the picture, the ’80s heartthrob had his right arm arm bandaged up in a sling as he smiled at the camera and gave a thumbs up with his recovering hand.
Atkins responded to a follower in the comments, “Thousands of baseballs, footballs, and casting for fish! Sports as a kid catching up with me.”
In a follow-up comment, the “Dallas” alum explained his past surgeries, adding, “Hahahaha yeah I had the shoulder last year, 3 knee, artificial disc and fusion in my back and now a metal elbow. Happy new year and may it be magic full of health and prosperous!! I’m gonna get a movie made.”
Atkins rose to fame in the 1980 movie “Blue Lagoon” opposite Brooke Shields. The romance film followed the stars as two young cousins who are shipwrecked on a tropical island in the South Pacific and end up becoming lovers.
In 2023, the pair reunited on Shields’ “Now What” podcast to discuss their time on the project.
“Never again will a movie be made like that,” the actress, 60, revealed at the time. “It wouldn’t be allowed.”
“Animals were hurt in the movie. We were spearing fish and all kinds of crazy things. Children are naked running down a beach,” she continued.
At the time of the filming, Shields was just 14 and Atkins only 18.
Shields and Atkins both claimed that production was pushing for the duo to have an off-screen relationship.
“They wanted so desperately for us to fall in love with each other,” the model expressed.
As a young girl who had never kissed anyone in real-life, Shields “didn’t react well to being forced into feeling anything.”
“Which was probably great for the film because that’s what it was all about. You have to admit the chemistry between us was just amazing,” Atkins replied.
“There were a lot of great, great moments that went on there, and I think it was a lot of that innocence that came off in the film that made it work even more,” he added.
Atkins also recalled how he and Shields were directed to tan nude before filming to avoid having any tan lines.
“We were wearing little strips of clothing, and my hair was taped on to my body to cover the boobs, which were very minimal anyway,” the “Pretty Baby” star detailed. “I don’t know what I was trying to cover. Remember the bumpy pads? They would stick these little flesh-colored things on my nipples because ‘nipple’ evidently was where they drew the line in this movie.”
Being nude caused several injuries for Shields and Atkins, including being attacked by a swarms of bugs, crabs, rats and horses.
“I was chafed up to no end,” the “A Night in Heaven” actor stated.
Shields also had a body double for sex scenes. Atkins didn’t, however, despite being raised in a conservative area.
“After that movie it was hard to keep my clothes on,” he quipped.
“There were scenes where I was butt naked with you, if you remember, sliding down that slide and things like that. And that was a little awkward, but it was kind of funny for me because at this point in time I would just do it. But your reaction was [annoyed sounds].”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
