More than Four Decades Later, Brooke Shields Talks About That Controversial Interview With Barbara Walters
Brooke Shields was the most recent celebrity guest on The Drew Barrymore Show.
Brooke Shields is one of the Hollywood veterans that started young in the industry. The child model rose to fame when she was 12 years old for her role in Pretty Baby. Then, her promising and blowing career was met with controversy when she starred as Emmeline in The Blue Lagoon.
She was 14 years old then, but the movie generated controversy for its sexual content, and the center of this hullabaloo was the young Brooke Shields.
This is one of the issues that Brooke opened up with Drew. Recall that she had an interview with Barbara Walters in 1981. She was 15 years old then and had just had her breakthrough role. Drew started the conversation with her own experience and interview with Barbara.
The host recalled that she was in her early 20s when Barbara also interviewed her, and she remembered how the American broadcast journalist was insistent about her substance abuse issues. Drew shared how relentless Barbara was in talking about her bisexuality and other sensitive topics.
Brooke, who was on The Drew Barrymore Show last Tuesday to promote Holiday Harmony, her new HBO Max film, also revealed her not-so-pleasant experience during her interview with Barbara.
The actress shared that Barbara asked for her measurements and for her to stand up. And then Barbara proceeded to compare herself to the young Brooke. The interview felt wrong and invasive. Brooke knew it was not right and didn’t know what was happening or where the discussion was headed.
But Brooke told Drew that she had smiled and behaved despite her overwhelming feelings. Brooke mentioned that she had felt she was taken advantage of in many aspects during that time.
However, given her time in the public eye, Brooke shared that everyone is entitled to these opinions. Then there is social media, which can be very scary and dangerous. This was when Brooke learned when to say no and be firm with her truth.
Due to the direction of the discussion, Brooke also discussed another interview—this time when she was younger, at ten years old. Surprisingly, the interviewer was another woman again, who repeatedly asked the same questions.
Brooke answered the interviewer. She then told the woman that she didn’t think she wanted to know her answer, as she had answered the same question several times, and her answer would be the same. Brooke further mentioned that the woman didn’t get another answer because what she was telling her was already the truth.
Moving along the discussion, Brooke also talked about her newest project, the SKIMS campaign, which was launched last September. Her campaign includes Becky G, Cassie, Chelsea Handler, Indya Moore, and Juliette Lewis.
Brooke gushed about the project and was very proud of it. She narrated to Drew how the campaign was empowering for her, despite being so quick. She further shared that the whole concept was kind of scary for her at the onset because she used to be able to prepare for a project. She would work out and eat better and make adjustments here and there to ready herself for a role.
But with the SKIMS projects, she learned to be kinder to herself and simply accept that like all the other women, she deserved to be part of the campaign. Brooke admitted that she faked it till she made it, but that confidence she was pushing for so hard paid off well.
In those quick moments being in her underwear, she stopped judging herself, and she just listened to the music and went with the flow.
Brooke also shared that the day after the campaign, Kim Kardashian sent her a message thanking her for being there and saying they were honored t
