Brooke Shields is an American actress and model that has seen immense success in the
entertainment industry in the decades since her debut as a child actress in the controversial
film Pretty Baby.
Despite the successful career that resulted from Brooke’s performance in the film, the
controversy surrounding it was emblematic of a darker undercurrent to the young woman’s
success story that has haunted the actress to this day.
Join Facts Verse as we explore how Brooke Shields’ life has been utterly tragic.
Brooke Shields was born with modeling in her genetic makeup.
Her mother was a model, and her father was an executive for the Revlon cosmetic company.
Brooke Shields got her start as an entertainer when she was just a year old, appearing in
an advertisement for Ivory soap.
That same year, Brooke’s parents divorced.
Her mother would become the presiding force over her life throughout the remainder of
her childhood, and even into her early adult years.
When Brooke was just a toddler, she began practicing piano and ballet.
The young girl also took horseback riding lessons, all while continuing her career as
a young model at the behest of her mother.
Although young Brooke’s life may have looked idyllic from the outside, she was rarely happy.
Her mother was an imposing and controlling figure, and Brooke did not always like the
things that her mother asked her to do.
If it had been up to Brooke, she would’ve likely rather have been living a normal childhood
instead of working as a young model and actress.
Since becoming a parent herself, Brooke has given her children the childhood that she
wished she had, keeping them out of the spotlight.
Whether it was because modeling was all she knew or because she was trying to live vicariously
through her daughter, Brooke’s mother shoved her daughter into the entertainment industry
seemingly against her will.
Brooke’s mother’s name was Teri, and she positioned herself as her daughter’s manager,
profiting off of her successes.
While Brooke’s career had started innocently as an infant in the aforementioned ad for
Ivory soap, it soon became something a bit more problematic.
Other parents may have been a bit more cautious about what they allowed their kids to do,
but Teri seemed to have some decidedly progressive ideas about what she was willing to see her
daughter put through in the entertainment industry.
This all started when Teri allowed Brooke to be cast in the film Pretty Baby at the
age of only 11.
In the film, Brooke was tasked with playing a child prostitute.
Not only did the film feature adult subject matter, but it also featured Brooke performing
in some problematic scenes that became quite controversial.
Pretty Baby was certainly met with a great deal of controversy upon its release, but
it was also a critical darling.
There were many that looked past the controversy and appreciated what the film was trying to
say, and critics were also keen to point out the talent and maturity that young Brooke
displayed in her performance.
In the years since the film’s release, it has only become more polarizing.
However, it’s still notable for the fact that it launched Brooke into stardom at the
age of only 11, for better and for worse.
Much of the controversy surrounding Pretty Baby was based on the fact that it appeared
as if 11-year-old Brooke was growing up to fast.
If this had been relegated to just the one instance of Brooke performing in the film,
the controversy may have ended there.
However, Brooke’s performance in Pretty Baby was just the first instance of her mother
allowing her to do things that were perhaps not the most appropriate.
The controversy surrounding Brooke continued into her teen years.
For one thing, she was seen publicly with fellow child star Scott Baio.
Many speculated that Brooke and Scott were involved in an adult relationship, and the
speculation later turned out to be true.
Of course, Scott was known for portraying the character of Chachi on Happy Days, and
Brooke would later go onto a successful television career of her own during her adult years.
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Having a career laced with numerous controversies under her belt by the time that she was just
a teen, Brooke Shields received her most massive exposure ever in 1978.
That year, she was hired personally by Calvin Klein to model for his new line of pants.
Brooke was just 16 years old at the time, and the ad campaign was decidedly adult.
The ad also utilized Brooke in a way that many found problematic given the young star’s
age, though it was still incredibly popular.
Multiple television networks banned the Calvin Klein ad campaign featuring Brooke, but it
still managed to bring her to more eyes than ever.
From there, Brooke carried on her controversial career by appearing in the R-rated romance
The Blue Lagoon.
The film utilized body doubles to allow the teenage actress to appear in scenes that could
typically only be filmed by adult actresses.
Some of the scenes were so explicit that Brooke even had to testify before congress that body
doubles had, in fact, been used during filming.
While Pretty Baby had exploited Brooke for the purposes of drama, The Blue Lagoon made
little qualms about the fact that it was exploiting the underage teenage actress for her looks.
The film was incredibly popular, largely with teenagers, but was just as controversial as
Brooke’s childhood film debut had been.
Soon after the release of The Blue Lagoon, Brooke became of age.
Many wondered how Brooke was going to live up to her controversial hype now that she
was an adult, and she did so by posing in Playboy.
Brooke retained a successful career into her adult years and gradually began to take control
of her image back from both her mother and the public.
While Brooke had risen to fame via controversial and exploitative roles that had been essentially
forced on her as a child, her adult years have seen her taking on more modest gigs.
As well, she eventually ended up firing her mother from her managerial duties, but not
before her mother had acted in the position for three decades.
Brooke’s mother remained a conflicting and controlling presence in Brooke’s life until
her death, although Brooke was still saddened to see her go.
In the time since her controversial career as a child actress and model, one of Brooke’s
most memorable roles has been on the sitcom Suddenly Susan.
The show offered Brooke a chance to reinvent herself somewhat in her adult years, becoming
a comedic leading lady that didn’t have to do anything too risqué to get the approval
of the audience.
Brooke has also acted on Broadway in her adult years, having appeared in productions of Grease
and Chicago.
Brooke has been involved romantically with numerous figures over the course of her life,
but perhaps none of Brooke’s romances have been as interesting as the one she shared
with Michael Jackson.
Michael was apparently a huge fan of Brooke, and a romance sparked up between the two when
Brooke approached him at the Academy Awards.
Brooke apparently never considered Michael a serious mate, though Michael himself was
never wise to this.
Michael had asked Brooke to marry him numerous times, even suggesting that the two adopt
a child together.
Many have since come to wonder whether or not Brooke was leading the pop icon on for
some nefarious purpose.
Brooke ended up breaking contact with Michael, though she was publicly shaken by the idol’s
death to the point where many questioned whether or not her public reaction was faked.
Besides Michael Jackson, Brooke has also been romantically linked to Liam Neeson and Michael
Bolton.
However, the men that she has chosen to settle down with her life haven’t been major celebrities.
Brooke’s first husband was a tennis player by the name of Andre Agassi.
Although he was a star in the tennis community, he was no A-list Hollywood actor.
The two got married in 1997, though the marriage didn’t last through the decade.
Andre was apparently addicted to drugs during the time.
After divorcing Andre, Brooke went on to meet the man that she is still currently married
to.
Brooke and film producer Chris Henchy became married after less than a year of dating.
Although they may have rushed into their marriage, they seem to have made the right choice!
By the time that Brooke had settled down happily with Chris, it seemed like all of her troubles
were behind her.
However, she suffered a severe bout of postpartum depression after giving birth to her first
daughter.
Thankfully, she was able to recover from the depression and has since had another daughter.
Brooke has given both of her daughters a life of innocence, unlike the one that she was
afforded.
Brooke’s insistence on keeping her children out of the spotlight has come both from her
controversial career as a child actress, as well as the fact that she has been a stalking
victim.
A man named John Rinaldi stalked Brooke for decades before being convicted in 2016.
Brooke has overcome her past struggles and continues to work to this day, though she
has seen a recent setback in the form of a freak injury that left her unable to walk
for a period of time.
Brooke has been adamantly working on the road to rehabilitation and has since launched a
lifestyle brand that will give her something to do in the meantime.
Once Brooke has fully rehabilitated from her recent injury, we may expect to see her back
in front of the camera!
Comment down below to share if you think that Brooke’s still got some starring roles left
in her, or if you think that she deserves to take it easy and focus on her lifestyle
brand after all of the tragedy that she has experienced in her life.
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