Brooke Shields is on a true confessions kick. She spilled to Good Housekeeping last year about her mom and her childhood, and now she’s done the same with The Daily Mail. Here are some of the highlights:
On the role of comedy in her life: “…comedy has been the thing I’ve resorted to, even as a child. I would be the class clown, the one who would fall purposely just to raise a laugh. I don’t think you can survive in this industry without a dark sense of humour. Actually, I don’t think I had a sense of self. I did whatever it was that would mean you’d like me. That’s all I needed.”
On getting her college degree at Princeton: “…it was this whole new territory: to think for myself, to realize I actually did have an opinion. Education is the one thing that can’t be challenged or taken away from you. And you wear it like armour – or I do.”
On her mother’s insistence that her father remain involved in her life after they split up: “He was forced to get to know me. And I grew on him. But he was sort of awkward, and that I became famous made it even harder for him to identify with me.”
On being raised by the quintessential stage mother: “My mum was…great, you know…she was a crazy alcoholic but she was also fierce in protecting me. You can argue it was paradoxical because she also put me out there in controversial ways – and there’s nothing I can do about that – but there was a moral base that she somehow taught me, even if it was, “Don’t do as I do.” What I could rely on was her commitment to me.’
Brooke sounds so normal; it’s a freakin’ miracle that she was able to turn out so well with the childhood she had (or didn’t). Read more about her controversial childhood movie roles, nude pictures, and thoughts on her marriage to Andre Agassi here.
