Looking after her kids. Brooke Shields got candid about her initial reaction to her 17-year-old daughter Grier’s interest in modeling.
“The rules have changed since I was [a model]. I fought it for so long. It’s such a different industry now than it was,” Shields, 58, explained during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Mark on Thursday, June 1.
The actress, who also shares daughter Rowan, 20, with husband Chris Henchy, recalled her own ups and downs in the industry. “That’s brutal and backstage is just brutal,” she added. “I finally had to give in and say if you’re gonna do this I’m not gonna be your manager. You’re going to be with an agency. You’re going to have a great work ethic. It’s not going to be comfortable and you’re gonna listen to me.”
Shields has previously collaborated with Grier on a campaign for Victoria’s Secret. On Thursday, Brooke went on to share how her late mother, Teri Shields, guided her in the fashion world, saying, “My mom was my manager and we were glued at the hip, which probably was how I could survive because you couldn’t get to me. She was such a mama bear and so protective. On the one hand I was very naive and on the other I was just thrown into this crazy world.”
The New York native has gotten candid over the years about the challenges she faced after rising to fame as a child. During her Hulu documentary, Pretty Baby, which was released in April, Brooke broke down her difficult relationship with her mother.
“I felt such a responsibility to keep her alive,” she told the cameras. “My life depended on it, so I thought. You know, you just keep the peace. … You never know what to expect with an alcoholic. It wasn’t abusive, but it was emotionally abusive because I felt sort of abandoned every time she wasn’t herself.”
Brooke said she staged an intervention for Teri when she was 13 years old. Her mother, however, didn’t stay sober long and the Blue Lagoon star ultimately cut ties with Teri professionally in the ’90s. The manager died in 2012 at age 79.
The Golden Globe nominee later discussed how her childhood shaped her own approach to being a parent. “It’s all about respect and manners and appreciation and giving back,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2022. “You start them young. They could say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ before they could even say [the words]. … It was, like, a tone. They would say ‘peas’ and ‘ta tu’ or something.”
Brooke noted that she and Henchy, 59, “don’t have it [all] figured out” when it comes to raising their child but are doing their best.
