Fran Drescher Helped Brooke Shields With IVF: “She Shot Me Up!”

Brooke Shields had a surprising confession to share at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards, and it involved none other than Fran Drescher. While speaking to PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly on the red carpet, Brooke, 59, spotted Fran, 67, and immediately pulled her longtime friend into the conversation — along with a little-known secret about their past.

“She helped me with my fertility treatments when I was trying to get pregnant,” Brooke revealed, laughing. “She shot me up.” 

The confession, though said in jest, was met with instant confirmation from Fran, who joined her and playfully responded, “That’s true, that’s true.”

Brooke, who welcomed her eldest daughter, Rowan, 21, through IVF with husband Chris Henchy, has always been open about her journey with fertility struggles. She has also spoken candidly about postpartum depression, which she detailed in her 2005 book, Down Came the Rain. At the time, her willingness to share her emotional struggles after giving birth made her one of the first celebrities to publicly discuss such a deeply personal topic.

Rowan, now an adult, has expressed gratitude for her mother’s honesty. Earlier this year, she reflected on how Brooke’s openness helped normalize conversations about IVF and mental health for younger generations. “I wouldn’t be here without IVF,” Rowan said, explaining that she had been frozen as an embryo for two years before being implanted. “…I think Mom talking about it with us from an early age, we are now aware. That’s an important conversation for young women.”

She also acknowledged the impact of her mother’s book, saying, “I don’t want my mother to ever go through anything bad, but when the book came out, it changed a lot of women’s lives. There was a beneficial outcome for something so horrible and she now has a stronger connection with me because of what she went through.”

For Brooke, breaking the silence on fertility and postpartum struggles was a personal mission. “…No one was talking about it,” she said. She also wanted her daughters, Rowan and 18-year-old Grier, to grow up knowing that struggles like these don’t define a person. “It’s just a tool — to help them know if something is off, that it’s common and should be addressed. Nothing is wrong with them. It’s not their fault, so that is what I wanted to impart to them later in their life.”