How Brooke Shields Stayed Sane
Brooke Shields is one of the few actresses who made the transition from child star to adult star without a major meltdown.
At the age of 12, Shields was cast as a child prostitute in the 1978 movie "Pretty Baby." At 15, she starred in the famous Calvin Klein jeans campaign that made her an icon of the fashion world.
In a new interview with Haute Living, the 47-year-old actress talks about how she stayed grounded as a young Hollywood star.
"I would get invited to Studio 54 [the New York nightclub], but I'd leave before all the craziness and drugs happened. I never saw the bag passed around," she said. "Andy Warhol and all those guys were very sweet to me. There was something about me that they wanted to protect and uphold."
Shields also cited her mother Teri, who died in November following a long struggle with dementia, as the one who helped hide her from the trouble Hollywood can bring. Teri Shields managed Brooke's career until she reached her 20s. She was often accused of exploiting her daughter.
"She wanted me to stay a kid for as long as possible, which may seem like a contradiction, but there was this freedom and naivety where I wasn't cognizant of things," Shields said. "I wasn't cognizant enough to know that you would be insecure or uncomfortable."
Shields also said that even today, she gets starstuck. She admitted she recently chased Academy Award nominee Daniel Day-Lewis down a New York City street.
"I saw him on the street and I turned around and I started following him," she said. "He must have felt someone behind him because he picked up his pace. And I thought, I have to leave the guy alone, and then I thought, I can't!
"I had no idea what to call him. Mister Day-Lewis? Mr. Lewis? Mr. Daniel? So I just walked up to him and said, 'Excuse me, I'm Brooke. I'm really sorry to do this to you, but I think you're amazing.' And thank God, he recognized me," she said.
