Brooke Shields

Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress, author and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle.

Early life

Shields was born in New York City to Teri (née Schmon) and Frank Shields, who divorced several months after she was born. Through her father's side, she has Italian and French roots, along with high social position and relations to nobility. Her paternal grandmother was the Italian princess Donna Marina Torlonia. Shields was raised in the Catholic faith She has two stepbrothers and three half-sisters.
When Shields was five days old, her mother openly stated she wanted her to be active in show business, "She's the most beautiful child and I'm going to help her with her career."
For her Confirmation at the age of 10, Shields adopted her middle name, "Camille". While attending high school, Shields resided in Haworth, New Jersey.
When she was 12 years old, Shields played a child prostitute her age. Eileen Ford, founder of the Ford Modeling Agency, said of Brooke Shields: "...She is a professional child and unique. She looks like an adult and thinks like one."

She attended the all-female Lenox School until eighth grade, before graduating from The Dwight-Englewood School of Englewood, New Jersey in 1983.
Shields moved into the dorms of Princeton University to pursue her bachelor's degree in French literature, graduating in June 1987. While attending Princeton, she spoke openly about her sexuality and virginity. Shields was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and the Cap and Gown Club. Her autobiography, On Your Own, was published in 1985. Her 1987 senior thesis was titled "The Initiation: From Innocence to Experience: The Pre-Adolescent/Adolescent Journey in the Films of Louis Malle, Pretty Baby and Lacombe Lucien."
In the op-ed page of The New York Times, her school records were made available shortly after the university graduation. The criticism emphasized that Shields did not take any courses in history, mathematics, economics, world literature or science with laboratory experience.

Career

Early work

Shields began her career as a model in 1966, at the age of 11 months. Her first job was for Ivory Soap, shot by Francesco Scavullo. She continued as a successful child model with model agent Eileen Ford, who, in her Lifetime Network biography, stated that she started her children's division just for Shields.
In early 1980, the 14-year-old Shields was the youngest fashion model ever to appear on the cover of the top fashion publication Vogue magazine. Later that same year, Shields appeared in controversial print and TV ads for Calvin Klein jeans. The TV ad included her saying the famous tagline, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." Brooke Shields ads would help catapult Klein's career to super-designer status.
From 1981 to 1983, Brooke Shields, her mother, photographer Gary Gross, Playboy Press and the New York City Courts were involved in litigation over the rights to some photographs her mother had signed away to the photographer (when dealing with models who are also minors, a parent or legal guardian must sign such a release form while other agreements are subject to negotiation) which were originally intended to appear in a book titled Sugar and Spice to be published by Playboy Press. The courts ruled in favor of the photographer but due to a strange twist in New York law, it would have been otherwise had Brooke Shields been considered a child "performer" rather than a model.
By the age of 16, Shields had become one of the most recognizable faces in the world, because of her dual career as a provocative fashion model and controversial child actress.TIME magazine reported, in its February 9, 1981 cover story, that her day rate as a model was $10,000. In 1983, Shields appeared on the cover of the September issue of Paris Vogue, the October and November issues of American Vogue and the December edition of Italian Vogue. During that period Shields became a regular at New York City's nightclub Studio 54.
In 2009, a naked picture of Brooke Shields, taken when she was 10, and included in a work by Richard Prince, Spiritual America, created a row. It was removed from an exhibition at the Tate Modern after a warning from the police.

Film

Shields' first major film role was her 1978 appearance in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, a movie in which she played a child who lived in a brothel (and in which there were numerous nude scenes). Because she was only 12 when the film was released, and possibly 11 when it was filmed, questions were raised about child pornography This was followed by a slightly less controversial and less notable film, Wanda Nevada (1979).

Brooke Shields at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

After two decades of movies, her best known films are still arguably The Blue Lagoon (1980), which included a number of nude scenes between teenage lovers on a tropical island (Shields later testified before a U.S. Congressional inquiry that older body doubles were used in some of them), and Endless Love (1981). The MPAA initially rated Endless Love with a X rating. However, the film was re-edited to earn a R rating.She won the People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Young Performer in four consecutive years from 1981 to 1984. In 1998, she played lesbian Lily in The Misadventures of Margaret.
In 2001, Lifetime aired the film What Makes a Family, starring Brooke Shields and Cherry Jones in a true-to-life story of two married lesbian mothers and a baby versus the adoption laws of Florida.

Television appearances

Shields has appeared in a number of television shows. In 1980, she was the youngest guest star to ever appear on The Muppet Show, in which she and the Muppets put on their own version of Alice In Wonderland. She was also the youngest person to host ABC's Fridays, a Saturday Night Live-like sketch comedy show, in 1981. In one episode of the popular comedy sitcom Friends, Shields played Joey's stalker. This role led directly to her being cast in the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan, in which she starred from 1996 until 2000, and which earned a People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series for her, in 1997, and two Golden Globe nominations.
In the early 1980s, she starred in the USPHS PSA sponsored by the American Lung Association as an initiative that VIPs should become examples and advocates of non-smoking. In the mid-1980s, Brooke began her support of the USO by touring with Bob Hope.
Shields made a couple of guest appearances on That '70s Show. She played Pam Burkhart, Jackie's (Mila Kunis) mother, who later was briefly involved with Donna's (Laura Prepon) father (played by Don Stark). Shields left That '70s Show when her character was written out. Shields recorded the narration for the Sony/BMG recording of The Runaway Bunny, a Concerto for Violin, Orchestra and Reader, by Glen Roven. It was performed by the Royal Philharmonic and Ittai Shapira.
In the late 2000s, Shields guest-starred on shows like FX's Nip/Tuck and CBS' Two and a Half Men. In 2005, Shields appeared in a season two episode of HBO's Entourage, entitled "Blue Balls Lagoon." In 2007, she made a guest appearance on Disney's Hannah Montana playing Susan Stewart, Miley and Jackson's mother, who died in 2004. In 2008, she returned in the primetime drama Lipstick Jungle. The series ended a year later.lds guest-starred in the situation comedy, The Middle, as the next-door nemesis of Patricia Heaton's character, Frankie. She also appeared as a featured celebrity in NBC's genealogy documentary reality series, Who Do You Think You Are?, where it was revealed that, through her father's ancestry, she is the distant cousin (many generations removed) of King Louis XIV of France, and thus a descendant of both Saint Louis and Henry IV of France.

Personal life

In the June 2009 issue of Health magazine, Shields related that she lost her virginity at age 22. She said the incident would have occurred earlier if she had a better self-image.
In the mid 1980s while at Princeton, Shields dated classmate Dean Cain. Shields has also been linked to John F. Kennedy Jr, actor Liam Neeson and singer George Michael. She was also a favorite date of Prince Naruhito of Japan. After a romantic interlude with John Travolta, the 16 year-old Brooke Shields dated 18 year-old Mohammed, son of the arms-dealer billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, in Cannes where they first met. At 18, Brooke Shields met Dodi Fayed and they became friends. Brooke was 24 years old when she spent the evening with Dodi Fayed in Paris to celebrate his 33rd birthday.
By the 1990s, Brooke Shields would be exhibiting her physique as an extension of her womanhood, promoting physical fitness as an extension of femininity, demonstrating that femininity and athletics are consistent rather than incongruous. Although she was not the only one, Shields had what was required to promote woman athletics.
Shields has been married twice. From April 19, 1997 to April 9, 1999, Shields was married to professional tennis player Andre Agassi; the couple had been together since 1993. On April 4, 2001, she married television writer Chris Henchy after they met in 1999 through mutual friends. The couple have two daughters: Rowan Frances (born May 15, 2003) and Grier Hammond (born April 18, 2006).

Relationship with Michael Jackson

Shields spoke at the memorial service for Michael Jackson on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, before a television audience of more than one billion people. Shields stated in that speech that she first met Michael when she was 13 years old, and the two instantly became friends.Shields said:

Thinking back to when we met and the many times that we spent together and whenever we were out together, there would be a caption of some kind, and the caption usually said something like 'an odd couple' or 'an unlikely pair,' but to us it was the most natural and easiest of friendships... Michael always knew he could count on me to support him or be his date and that we would have fun no matter where we were. We had a bond... Both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together, we were two little kids having fun.

In her eulogy speech, she also shared a number of anecdotes, including an occasion in which she was his date for one of Elizabeth Taylor's weddings, and the pair sneaked into Taylor's room to get the first look at her dress, only to discover Taylor asleep in the bed. Shields gave a tearful speech, referring to the many times she and Michael Jackson shared and briefly joked about his famous sequin glove. She also mentioned Jackson’s favorite song "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin which was later sung in the memorial service by Jermaine Jackson.
New York Times columnist Gail Collins noted that "it was a little peculiar hearing Brooke Shields’s weepy testimony about her deep friendship with Jackson given the fact that she told reporters that the last time she saw him was at Elizabeth Taylor’s eighth wedding in 1991." This however does not agree with Michael's statements during his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey that he was dating Shields at the time,as well as with the fact that Shields was Michael Jackson's date to the 1993 Grammys. Shields has stated that Jackson asked her to marry him numerous times and to adopt a child together.
Jackson said of Shields in a conversation with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in 2001:
That was one of the loves of my life. I think she loved me as much as I loved her, you know? We dated a lot. We, we went out a lot. Her pictures were all over my wall, my mirror, everything. And I went to the Academy Awards with Diana Ross and this girl walks up to me and says "Hi, I'm Brooke Shields." Then she goes "Are you going to the after-party?" I go, "Yeah." "Good, I'll see you at the party." I'm going "Oh my God, does she know she's all over my room?" So we go the after-party. She comes up to me she goes, "Will you dance with me?" I went, "Yes. I will dance with you." Man, we exchanged numbers and I was up all night, singing, spinning around my room, just so happy. It was great.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1976	Alice, Sweet Alice	Karen Spages	Alternative titles: Communion Holy Terror
1978	Pretty Baby	Violet
	King of the Gypsies	Tita
1979	Tilt	Tilt (Brenda Louise Davenport)
	Wanda Nevada	Wanda Nevada
	Just You and Me, Kid	Kate
1980	The Blue Lagoon	Emmeline Lestrange
1981	Endless Love	Jade Butterfield
1983	Sahara	Dale
1984	The Muppets Take Manhattan	Customer in Pete's
1989	Speed Zone!	Stewardess/Herself	Alternative title: Cannonball Fever
	Brenda Starr	Brenda Starr
1990	Backstreet Dreams	Stevie	Alternative title: Backstreet Strays
1992	Running Wild	Christine Shaye	Alternative title: Born Wild
1993	Freaked	Skye Daley	Alternative titles: Freak Show Hideous Mutant Freekz
1994	The Postgraduate	Fantasy Wife
	The Seventh Floor	Kate Fletcher
1996	Freeway	Mimi Wolverton
1998	The Misadventures of Margaret	Lily
1999	The Weekend	Nina
	Black and White	Sam Donager
	The Bachelor	Buckley Hale-Windsor
1999	The Disenchanted Forest	Narrator
2000	After Sex	Kate
2004	Our Italian Husband	Charlene Taylor	Alternative title: Mariti in affitto
	The Easter Egg Adventure	Horrible Harriet Hare (Voice)
2005	Bob the Butler	Anne Jamieson
2007	National Lampoon's Bag Boy	Mrs. Hart
2008	Justice League: The New Frontier	Carol Ferris (Voice)	Direct-to-DVD release
	The Midnight Meat Train	Susan Hoff
	Unstable Fables: Goldilocks & 3 Bears Show	Ruby Bear (Voice)
2010	Furry Vengeance	Tammy Sanders
	The Other Guys	Herself
	The Boy Who Cried Werewolf	Madame Varcolac	Television Movie
2011	Chalet Girl	Caroline
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	After the Fall	Quentin's Daughter	Television movie
1977	The Prince of Central Park	Kristin	Television movie
1982	The Doctors	Elizabeth Harrington	Unknown episodes
1984	Wet Gold	Laura	Television movie
1988	The Diamond Trap	Tara Holden	Television movie
1992	Quantum Leap	Vanessa Foster	Episode: "Leaping of the Shrew"
1993	I Can Make You Love Me	Laura Black	Television movie Alternative title: Stalking Laura
1993	Tales from the Crypt	Norma	1 episode
1994	An American Love	Greta	1 episode
1995	Nothing Lasts Forever	Dr. Beth Taft	Television movie
1996	Friends	Erika Ford	1 episode
1996–2000	Suddenly Susan	Susan Keane	93 episodes, producer
1998	The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery	Cyndee Lafrance	Television movie
2001	What Makes a Family	Janine Nielssen	Television movie
	Just Shoot Me!	Erlene Noodleman, Nina's Sister	1 episode
2003	Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids	Miss Spider (Voice)	Television movie
	Gary the Rat	Cassandra Harrison (Voice)	1 episode
2004	Gone, But Not Forgotten	Betsy Tannenbaum	Television movie
	I'm with Her	Ivy Tyler	1 episode
	That 70s Show	Pamela Burkhart	7 episodes
2005	New Car Smell	April	Television movie
2006	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Kelly Sloane-Raines	1 episode
	Nip/Tuck	Faith Wolper	3 episodes
2007	Two and a Half Men	Danielle Stewert	1 episode
	The Batman	Julie (Voice)	1 episode
2007–2009	Hannah Montana	Susan Stewart	3 episodes
2008	Widows	Shirley Heller	1 episode
2008–2009	Lipstick Jungle	Wendy Healy	20 episodes
2010	The Middle	Rita Glossner	2 episodes
	Who Do You Think You Are?	Herself/Narrator	1 episode