Brooke Shields has been married to her husband, Chris Henchy for 20 years now.
But in the past, the former model and actor had her heart broken by quite a few famous men.
Before finding love with his late wife, Liam Neeson proposed to Shields twice!
And then he ghosted her. Today, we're looking into the love life of the Blue Lagoon star,
including how she thought she had found true love with George Michael in the 80s.
It's unclear exactly how Brooke Shields and Liam Neeson met, but Hollywood is small, right? At the
time, he had quite the reputation for dating the industry's best and brightest — Helen Mirren),
Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand , Sinead O'Connor … And the list continues.
The former model had previously dated Dean Cain. Oh yes, the future Lois & Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman star happened to be her Princeton boyfriend.
We'll get back to you on that. Her relationship with Neeson began in late 1991.
Although he was not the superstar he is today, his career was already making waves, and Brooke became
immediately star-struck. Of course, Shields was a golden girl in her own right, and soon,
the duo formed what would be a passionate fling. The actor admitted she was touched by Neeson's
sweet words, poetry, and fun lifestyle. In her memoir, There Was a Little Girl:
The Real Story of My Mother and Me, she wrote of this period, describing Neeson as "a tall
Irish actor and a drunk who was thirteen years my senior. He wooed me with his brogue, his poetry,
and his shitty choice of cheap pinot grigio wine." Oh, just look at Neeson's glasses and Shields's
hair … the spirit of the early '90s was surely alive and well.
Shields wrote that she was "so impressed with going out with a real movie star," but that
seems to be one of the few positives from their time together. When things became serious for the
former flames after three months of dating, Neeson popped the question. No ring, just so you know.
Following a Christmas together in New York when they were, quote, "buzzed all day long," Liam
suddenly left for LA. He had to check on his house as it allegedly suffered a basement flood.
"I told him to phone me when he arrived," Shields wrote, to which Neeson said,
"'Oh, it'll be late darlin.'" After he left, Shields claimed she "never heard from him again."
Asked whether he had behaved like a character from one of his action movies, Shields agreed that
it was an interesting analogy. "He was there one minute and gone the next. You know, I was shocked,
I couldn't believe it. Yeah. He was taken," Shields reportedly said of the predicament,
referencing Neeson's famous action franchise. Despite her previous statement, Brooke did,
in fact, see her ex-fling again. The couple briefly rekindled their romance,
but she revealed in her book how a warning she gave him about the relationship later came true.
Shields admitted that Neeson proposed a second time in an interview with People shortly after
her book's release. "He came back after the first time he left me and asked me to marry him again.
And I said, 'No, no, no, because knowing you, you'll probably fall in love with your next
leading lady and marry her, so I'm leaving myself out of this.' And I was dead right."
Anna Christie's Broadway revival opened in early 1993. Neeson's leading lady in the New
York play turned out to be Natasha Richardson. The couple went on to fall in love, married the
following year, and had two sons. They remained together until she tragically died in 2009.
Shields insists there's no bad blood between her and the brooding Irish. The Blue Lagoon
star also revealed that she saw Neeson at a bar a few years later and asked him to thank Richardson.
It turns out Natasha came to see Brooke backstage when she played Sally Bowles in Cabaret, a role
Richardson had played three years prior. We can only imagine what their conversation was about.
"Just tell her I was really honored she came backstage," said Shields.
"She's the original, and she's amazing." In 2015, Neeson even owned up to his treatment
of Shields as well. Reportedly, the actor corroborated Shields's account to Watch What
Happens Live's Andy Cohen — well, mostly. "I'm not going to deny it. I actually
don't really remember. It was many years ago, but … Dating, and then I flew off to L.A.,
and I didn't call her back. It sounds ... Yeah…," Neeson said. Though he admitted
they haven't kept in touch, the actor called Shields "a great lady and a fantastic girl."
Neeson is notoriously private about his romantic life and relationships,
but he has been seen on dates. He was rumored to have been dating British businesswoman Freya St.
Johnston on-and-off around 10 years. They were reportedly first seen together
in London in 2010 but broke up two years later. However, the couple were later seen together at
the Irish Film and TV Awards in 2016 and were last seen together on the red carpet in 2019.
Liam also said in 2016 that he was dating someone "incredibly famous"
but couldn't reveal her name as he didn't want to embarrass her. However, he later recanted this,
claiming his statement was a joke. Shields famously wed tennis star Andre
Agassi in 1997, but the marriage was over just two years later. She married her current husband,
producer and screenwriter Chris Henchy, in 2001. The couple shares daughters Rowan and Grier.
Her relationship with Neeson is not the only exciting liaison Brooke revealed in her 2014 book.
Shields also disclosed how she thought she'd found true love
when she dated George Michael in the 80s. Brooke admitted that out of all her famous dates,
one of her biggest crushes was on the Careless Whisper singer. She thought he was a remarkable,
respectful and patient gentleman. "Nobody had ever been willing to move so slowly. It must be love."
In her jaw-dropping memoir, Shields detailed how she met Michael through her mom and how they had a
few dates. Then, one night, at a party for Grace Jones, he whispered to her that it was time to
leave. In the limo on the way home, Michael put up the partition separating them from their driver.
Shields was on edge. "I thought, 'Oh God,
I'm going to have my first time with George Michael in the back of a limo,'" she wrote.
Well, not exactly. The singer looked deep into her eyes and told her they needed to take a break
because he wanted to concentrate on his career. Shields was devastated, saying she cried
herself to sleep for weeks. "It was sort of ridiculous, but he was so sweet to me," she said.
Plus, she added, "In that era, nobody was coming out, and he was a sex symbol. So,
I was harmless. We kind of laughed. He was funny." Looking back, Shields said that is what made it so
sweet. She was smitten just because he was so respectful and Brooke didn't feel pressured.
"It all worked out," the star says. The 2014's There Was a Little Girl also focuses
on Brooke's complicated relationship with her mom, including how she affected pretty much every area
of her life, not least of them dating and romance. When she was a junior at Princeton, Brooke fell in
love with a future Superman. They were "instantly crazy" about each other. They were always holding
hands and trying to find ways to be alone and kiss, she writes, "but poor guy, I made him wait."
Now, she says, "I think it was more torturous for him because I was used to shutting that part
of me off", as she was always more focused on her omnipresent mom. "I felt as if she was watching."
The now 56-year-old actor recalls losing her virginity as a "beautiful" experience
that unfortunately was followed by the onset of overwhelming guilt.
After they finally had sex, Brooke became so overwhelmed that she jumped out of their bed
and left. "Instead of giving in to what was a loving, and emotionally safe, relationship,
and escaping into the most intimate and deserved moment, I began to cry deeply and silently…
I got so overwhelmed that I jumped out of my bed and bolted out of the room," Shields wrote.
Sadly, it all marked the beginning of the end of her relationship with Cain.
She really has nothing but the nicest things to say about him,
admitting that at the time, she could not handle loving somebody more than her mom.
"I didn't know where I began and where my mother ended," wrote Shields of her confusion.
"And that meant I didn't know how to fit Dean in." Shields called Cain to let him know she was
including the memorable episode in her book. "He said, 'As long as you're happy with it,
I'm comfortable with it,'" she says. "There's nothing sordid about it. He's such a good guy
and a sweet human being." We can totally say the same about you, Brooke Shields!
That's all we have for you today, Juicers! As always, thanks for choosing us! Spread the word,
and don't forget to subscribe and click that notification bell for more celebrity stories.
And we'll be right back! Be well and be kind.