Sometimes marriages turn out to be different from what a couple expects, and they don't
always work out; it's just part of life. In this instance, Brooke Shields and former
tennis pro Andre Agassi got married in 1997 after starting a romance
via fax in 1993. The two celebrities were balancing high-profile occupations at the time,
which put a strain on their marriage and led to their divorce in 1999. Shields would come to learn
that being the spouse of an athlete came with a unique set of obstacles she hadn't expected.
WAS IT AGASSI'S FAULT?
Shields and Agassi were the Perfect couples in the 1990s,
they were the dream couple, and we all aspired to be like them. They were stars
in their respective careers. The couple was a perfect match between Hollywood and tennis.
Agassi, on the other hand, was a tennis player who had that commercial Hollywood swag about him;
everyone loved his swag with his long hair and outlandish clothes.
Shields and Agassi were married from 1997 to 1999, but they had a turbulent marriage
due to a couple of reasons, reasons having to do with a difficult period in Andre's life.
Agassi eventually talked openly about both of his marriages. The first one to Brooke Shields,
as we all know, lasted just two years. It was the classic bad pairing of a jock and a starlet.
Apart from having been thrust onto the big stage as just kids, Agassi and Shields had
nothing in common. Shields disliked tennis and Agassi's friends but would show up at his games.
Agassi, on the other hand, craved a bit of solitude and never fit into her showbiz crowd.
I frequently wonder if Agassi ever considered
whether he had hurt her in any way or if he had been a horrible lover or spouse.
He talked about how shallow and vain Shields was and how ridiculous Hollywood actors were
as a group. He remembered feeling out of place in all of the actors' appearances,
but he never considered that Shields could have felt the same way with his pals.
He self-righteously bragged about walking out of her Friends filming
because he felt her role kissing Joey's hand was disgusting. He also admitted that he was
uninterested in her profession, but he hinted that she was too self-centered to help him.
On April 9, 1999, Agassi filed for divorce from Brooke Shields, only two weeks before their second
wedding anniversary. Later, in his autobiography, Agassi said that he knew on his wedding day that
his marriage to Shields would collapse. "I have a thought no man should have on his wedding
day, '' he said. “I wish I were leaving too. I wish I had a decoy groom to take my place.”
Sounds to me like Agassi was never really enthusiastic from the start.
SHIELDS'S REVELATION Shields also revealed
sometime in 2014 that she regretted marrying Agassi.
In her biography 'There Was a Little Girl,' she said that she had always had misgivings
about their relationship and realized the day after their wedding that she had made a mistake.
I'm amazed they survived two years if they both realized they
didn't want to be married to each other so early in their marriage.
For the next two years, they would see very little of each other according to
shields. And all of a sudden, her reality hit her, and she knew she had made a mistake.
"I was working on my show, and he was playing at various tournaments. He alienated me when he
lost and was on to the next tournament after he won. We were drifting apart," Shields explained.
Shields also stated that while she was disappointed when Agassi admitted to being
"addicted to crystal meth" since they began dating in 1993, she still wanted to work things out.
She revealed that she supported Agassi unconditionally during their relationship when he
told her about his baldness and use of hairpieces. "Why would this have been any different?
I would have been his biggest advocate and supporter," she revealed.
She shared another incident where Agassi clearly didn't appreciate her acting choices
during one particular scene with Matt LeBlanc on Friends. Apparently,
Agassi was the jealous type. She has admitted to feeling a little controlled by him before.
Agassi was on set that day when Shields was filming one
particular scene with LeBlanc, where her character
showed just how little self-control she possessed when it came to her feelings for Joey.
"Andre came to the soundstage to see me film my Friends scene," she explained.
"In the scene, I portrayed a frenzied fan who starts
licking Joey's fingers and throws my head back with hysterical laughter in the sequence."
Apparently, Shields' performance enraged Agassi to the point
where he stormed out of the studio in a rage.
"I glimpsed something out of the corner of my eye while we were filming the second
pass of the same scene," Shields recalled. "Andre had walked off the site in a rage.
I dashed outside to locate him at the cut
and had to call to him from the doorway to avoid getting soaked from the unexpected downpour."
According to Shields, Agassi said he felt like a fool because she licked Joey's fingers.
He blamed her and drove all the way back all the way to Las Vegas.
After his ride back to Las Vegas, He couldn't control his rage
and took out his displeasure on his whole tennis trophy collection.
"When he got there, he deliberately crushed and destroyed every award he'd
ever earned," Shields said, "Let alone all the others, including Wimbledon and the US Open."
Despite the fact that she knew she wouldn't be a part of it, she felt obliged to replace
all of Agassi's ravaged trophies in case he chose to pass them on in the future.
She felt Agassi's kids would one day want the trophies, and she wasn't even thinking
about them being her kids at the time. She felt it would be a shame to waste
the legacy. It eventually took her three years to have them all fixed and replaced.
Considering the fact that Melisa Errico, wife of McEnroe, once explained that Shields always
saw Agassi more as the future father of her children than rather than the tennis star the
whole world was seeing, I think she might have fixed them for some selfish reasons.
Agassi, who had already solidified himself as a tennis champion by the time he met Shields,
had an extensive schedule on the court. Shields was also busy with her NBC sitcom,
Suddenly Susan, which had just launched.
Early in their marriage, the pair was already on opposing schedules.
Shields knew deep down that their marriage was in trouble but chose to look the other way.
"Overall, the marriage was simply existing," Shields revealed.
"but if it seemed like it wasn't what it was intended to be, it was simple to avoid dealing
with it." "I believe it was a lack of life rather than a lack of love that caused it."
Over time, Shields noticed a pattern with Agassi where his record on the court
would have an effect on their relationship.
"He alienated me when he lost and was on to the next flight to the next tournament after he won,"
she explained. "I then began to witness the other side to being an
athlete's girlfriend and now wife. the side that gets shunned after a loss."
According to her, Agassi gave her the cold shoulder
when he would lose a match, and she often took his silence as directing his blame
toward her. She was always made to feel like it was her fault.
"I'd either receive the quiet treatment or a disdainful projection that hurt to my core."
When he lost, he would not even look at me or talk to me, rather becoming much more
isolated. He had been more open in the past, but he was rapidly changing."
Shields wrote about her mother's drinking and how she had become accustomed to dealing
with people's mood swings. Agassi's mood swings and coldness felt familiar to her.
She recalled, "It felt terrible at times, but I waited it out." "I was all too familiar
with navigating someone else's moods. This would be a walk in the park. To be honest,
I nearly enjoyed it. It seemed right and familiar, and the sense of martyrdom didn't hurt."
Shields admitted she understood addiction as the child of an alcoholic mother,
but she never understood why Agassi hadn't warned her sooner.
She recommended they go to couples counseling, but he dismissed the idea.
Eventually, the emotional gap and level of affection between them
had grown to the point of no return, and divorce was the only option.
What is your take on Agassi's marriage to Shields?
Was it just bad timing, or were they not right for each other? Comment below!