Brooke Shields Bio

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Brooke Shields Pictures

Brooke Christa Camille 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 and Lipstick Jungle.

Brooke Shields: Career

Brooke Shields - Modeling

Shields' career as a model began 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 (at age 14), 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."

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.

Brooke Shields - 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).

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). She won the People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Young Performer in four consecutive years from 1981 to 1984.

Brooke Shields - College

Shields put her film career on hold to attend Princeton University, from 1983 to 1987, and graduated with a degree in French literature. Her 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." It was at Princeton where she spoke openly about her sexuality and virginity. During her tenure at Princeton, Shields was a member of the Princeton Triangle Club and the Cap and Gown Club. She wrote an autobiography, On Your Own, published in 1985.

Brooke Shields - 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.

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 1993 Brooke appeared in an episode of Quantum Leap "Leaping of the Shrew".

In the late 2000s, Shields guest-starred on shows like FX's Nip/Tuck and CBS' Two and a Half Men. 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.

Brooke Shields - On-stage productions

Shields has appeared in many on-stage productions, mostly musical revivals including Grease, Cabaret, Wonderful Town and Chicago on Broadway; she also performed in Chicago in London's West End.

Brooke Shields: Personal life

Shields with Princeton University Band for taping of Sally Jesse Raphael's Show (Feb 1991)

Shields was born in New York City into a well-known American society family with links to Italian nobility. Her grandmother was the Italian princess Donna Marina Torlonia. Her father, Francis Alexander Shields, was a businessman, and her mother, Teri Shields (née Maria Theresa Schmonn), managed her career.

Shields adopted her middle name, Camille, for her Confirmation at age 10. Shields' parents divorced when she was a child. Shields has three half-sisters and two stepsiblings. She attended the all-girl Lenox School. She graduated in 1983 from Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey.Into the mid-1980s, Shields was a resident of Haworth, New Jersey.

In the June 2009 issue of Health magazine, Shields announced she lost her virginity at age 22. She said she would have had sex earlier if she had a better image of her body.

From April 19, 1997 to April 9, 1999, Shields was married to professional tennis player Andre Agassi; their marriage was annulled. Since April 4, 2001, she has been married to television writer Chris Henchy. They have two daughters: Rowan Frances (b. May 15, 2003) and Grier Hammond (b. April 18, 2006).

Brooke Shields - Postpartum depression

In the spring of 2005, Shields spoke to magazines (such as Guideposts) and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to publicize her battle with postpartum depression, an experience that included depression, thoughts of suicide, an inability to respond to her baby's needs and delayed maternal bonding. The illness may have been triggered by a traumatic childbirth, the death of her father three weeks earlier, stress from in vitro fertilization, a miscarriage and a family history of depression, as well as the hormones and life changes which were brought on by childbirth. Her book, Down Came the Rain, discusses her experience.

In May 2005, Tom Cruise, a Scientologist whose beliefs frown upon psychiatry condemned Shields, both personally and professionally, particularly for both using and speaking in favor of the antidepressant drug Paxil. As Cruise said, "Here is a woman and I care about Brooke Shields, because I think she is an incredibly talented woman, you look at [and think], where has her career gone?" Shields responded that Cruise's statements about anti-depressants were "irresponsible" and "dangerous." She said that he should "stick to fighting aliens", (a reference to Cruise's starring role in War of the Worlds as well as some of the more exotic aspects of Scientology doctrine and teachings), "and let mothers decide the best way to treat postpartum depression." The actress responded to a further attack by Cruise in an essay "War of Words" published in The New York Times on July 1, 2005, in which she made an individual case for the medication and said, "In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor's care, I have since tapered off the medication but, without it, I wouldn't have become the loving parent I am today." On August 31, 2006, according to USAToday.com, Cruise privately apologized to Shields for the incident and Shields accepted and said that it was "heartfelt." Three months later, she and her husband attended the wedding of Cruise and Katie Holmes, in November, 2006.

Shields is a spokeswoman for Tupperware's Chain of Confidence SMART Girls campaign, a program that teaches girls to nurture their mental and physical well-being.

Brooke Shields - 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. In her eulogy speech, she 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, referencing 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.