One thing about this picture: doesn’t this woman have a birthmark under her left eye (viewer’s right)? It doesn’t look to me to be a mark on the print, and it’s not a dust mark on the neg (which would come out as white, as the other dust marks in the photo.) Brooke Shields, so far as I could tell, does not have that mark.
Yes and that point was noted emphatically by her publicist. And the mystery woman’s nose seems a little larger and wider, her hands are little bigger and more muscular, and her eyebrows, while very similar, seem a little too wide and dark. When I saw the uncropped version of the photo with her legs included it pretty much sealed it for me. At 18 years old Brooke Shields didn’t have that much (any) cellulite on her legs.
These are all excellent reasons to have doubts it is her, as opposed to a) pot being involved, b) a punk rocker being involved who is c) a black man - all of which are totally unimportant factors in the question IMHO. Just that both of them were celebrities in 1983 is pretty much reason enough that they might have wound up meeting in any number of different circumstances. Adding to that her work with other punk musicians and her relationship with Michael Jackson, the premise of the photo is entirely plausible. But it just doesn’t look quite like her.
If it isn’t her she will probably sue Bad Brains and the real woman will probably come forward if she’s still alive either way.
Technically, all I did was repeat what the article claims about the identity of the man in the image. I don’t know HR from a hole in the wall.
I agree that it is relevant that Brooke was into punk rock, and had some interaction with the community. From that, the guy’s claims that she met HR one time is plausible. I don’t really know if Brooke ever tried pot or if she smokes it regularly now.
But looking at that image, that is not Brooke Shields. She looks similar, but no. Hell, that girl’s nose looks broken.
The background didn’t sink in before, but I see the weirdness now. It is conceivable that it’s some kind of posterboard behind the couch.
As someone who grew up err… studying… Brooke Shields, I can say verify that the girl in the picture is definitely not her.
Looks mor like Amanda Peet than Brooke Shields to me.
I can’t help thinking that if it really was Shields, it would have surfaced at some point when she was more in the spotlight.
Don’t you go dissin’ my Amanda about being a drug user! 
I have a couple of Facebook friends who were part of that scene. The picture is causing much hilarity.