Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Brooke Christa Camille Shields (born May 31, 1965
in New York, New York|New York City, New York,
United States|USA) is an United States|American
actor|actress. She achieved early fame as a child
actor|child actress, and by her teens was one of
the most photographed and recognized models in the
world. She attended Princeton University from 1983
to 1987, graduating with a degree in French
literature.

==Career==
Brooke Shields had gained a very early start as
she was a favorite as a child with the top fashion
photographers in New York city at the time, not
the least of which was the late Scavullo. Garry
Gross, who later got sued by both Brooke and her
mother over a lenghty battle for the copyright of
these photographs, shot a famous series of
photographs (one, that was auctioned at Christie's
sold for near 1,000,000 US) involving a very nude
and explicit Brooke in heavy make-up when she was
10. It was this series which would lead to her
film career as the French director Louis Malle
would later see them and cast her for his film.

Shields' career really started then among much
ballyhoo over her appearance in French director
Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, a movie in which she
played a child living in a brothel (and in which
there were numerous nude scenes). Because she was
only 12 when the film was released, and possibly
11 when it was filmed, questions were raised about
child pornography. This was followed by a slightly
less controversial, but also less notable film,
Wanda Nevada.

After two decades of movies, her best-known films
are still arguably The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)|The
Blue Lagoon (1980) (which included more nude
scenes, but Shields later testified before a U.S.
Congressional inquiry that older body doubles were
used in some of them), and Endless Love (1981),
both made near the beginning of her career.

Shields, who developed a strong sense of comic
timing as her acting career advanced into
adulthood, has played in a number of television
productions, the most successful being the series
Suddenly Susan.

She won the People's Choice Award in the category
of Favorite Young Performer in four consecutive
years from 1981 to 1984 and more than a decade
later she won again in the category of Favorite
Female Performer in a New Television Series in
1997.

Beginning with undergraduate appearances in the
Princeton University Princeton_Triangle_Club
|Triangle Show, Shields has appeared in many
on-stage productions, mostly musical revivals,
including Grease (musical)|Grease and Wonderful
Town on Broadway, the latter of which closed in
2005 to favorable reviews. That year she made her
London stage debut in the musical Chicago
(musical)|Chicago.

It is widely reported that Shield's legs are
insured by Lloyd's of London.



==Family==
Her parents are the late Francis Alexander Shields
who married Brooke´s mother, Maria Theresia
Schmonin, in 1964. Her paternal grandparents are
Francis Xavier Shields, (a tennis star), and
Italian princess Donna Marina Torlonia di
Civitella-Cesi, who was a sister of Don Alessandro
Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi, the
husband of the Spanish Infanta Beatrix of
Bourbon-Battenberg (aunt of King Juan Carlos I of
Spain). Through her Italian-American grandmother,
Brooke Shields is a descendant of Henri IV, King
of France, the Emperor Charles V, Lucrezia Borgia,
and Honore I, Prince of Monaco. Her
great-grandmother, Elsie Moore, was a sister of
Glenn Close's grandfather. Shields is "a 23rd
generation descendant of Francesco I Gattilusio,
the founder of the Lesbian Gattilusii dynasty,"
according to William Addams Reitwiesner's
monograph, The Lesbos|Lesbian Ancestors of Rainier
III, Prince of Monaco|Prince Rainier of Monaco,
Otto von Habsburg|Dr. Otto von Habsburg, Brooke
Shields, and the Marquis de Sade.
http://members.aol.com/eurostamm/lesbian.html

She was married from 1997 to 1999 to professional
tennis player, Andre Agassi. Since 2001 she has
been married to Chris Henchy: they are parents of
one daughter, Rowan Francis, born in 2003.

==Postpartum depression==
In the spring of 2005, Brooke Shields spoke to
magazines and appeared on Oprah to publicize her
battle with postpartum depression, an experience
that included depression, thoughts of suicide,
disturbing thoughts, an inability to respond to
her baby's needs, and delayed bonding. The illness
may have been triggered by a traumatic labour and
delivery, the death of Shields' father three weeks
earlier, stress from in vitro fertilisation, a
miscarriage, and a family history of depression,
not to mention the hormones and life changes
brought on by child birth. Her book, Down Came the
Rain, discusses her experience. The title draws
from the baby song Itsy Bitsy Spider.

In May 2005 former co-star Tom Cruise, a
Scientology|Scientologist whose religion maintains
that vitamins can cure depression and many other
illnesses, criticized Shields for using as well as
speaking in favor of the drug Paxil. Cruise also
said, "Here is a woman, and I care about Brooke
Shields because I think she is an incredibly
talented woman, you look at (and think), where has
her career gone?" At the time, Shields was
starring in a London revival of the musical
"Chicago (musical)|Chicago" (and receiving rave
reviews for her performance as Roxie Hart).
Shields responded that Cruise's statements about
anti-depressants were "irresponsible" and
"dangerous." She said he should "stick to fighting
aliens" (ostensibly a reference to Cruise's
starring role in War of the Worlds (2005
movie)|War of the Worlds, but also to
Xenu|Scientology doctrine and teachings), and let
mothers decide the best way to treat postpartum
depression. Shields responded to a further attack
by Tom Cruise in an essay published in The New
York Times on July 1,
2005.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/opinion/01s
hields.html?hp

Several celebrities spoke out in support of
Brooke. At least two went through postpartum
depression themselves. Marie Osmond suffered a
very severe bout in 1999. Carnie Wilson went
through postpartum depression after the birth of
her daughter in April 2005. Carnie was able to get
through her bout with psychotherapy and did not
need to use pharmaceuticals.

==Filmography==
*Communion (1976)
*King of the Gypsies (1978)
*Pretty Baby (1978)
*An Almost Perfect Affair (1979) (Cameo)
*Tilt (1979)
*Just You and Me, Kid (1979)
*Wanda Nevada (1979)
*The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)|The Blue Lagoon
(1980)
*Endless Love (1981)
*Sahara (1983 movie)|Sahara (1983)
*The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) (Cameo)
*Speed Zone! (1989) (Cameo)
*Brenda Starr (1989)
*Backstreet Dreams (1990)
*Running Wild (1992)
*Legends of the West (1992) (documentary)
*Freaked (1993)
*I Can Make You Love Me (1993)
*The Seventh Floor (1994)
*Freeway (1996)
*Scratch the Surface (1997) (documentary)
*Junket Whore (1998) (documentary)
*The Misadventures of Margaret (1998)
*The Weekend (1999)
*Black and White (1999 movie)|Black and White
(1999)
*The Bachelor (1999)
*After Sex (2000)
*Massholes (2000) (Cameo)
*Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003) (documentary)
*Rent-a-Husband (2004)
*The Easter Egg Adventure (2005) (voice)
*The Outsider (2005) (documentary)
*Bob the Butler (2005) (currently completed
filming)

==TV Work==
*After the Fall (1974)
*The Prince of Central Park (1977)
*Wet Gold (1984)
*The Diamond Trap (1988)
*I Can Make You Love Me (1993)
*An American Love (1994)
*Nothing Lasts Forever (1995) (miniseries)
*Suddenly Susan (1996-2000) (also producer)
*The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery (1998)
*What Makes a Family (2001)
*Widows (2002) (miniseries)
*Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids (2003) (voice)
*Gone But Not Forgotten (2004) (miniseries)

==External links==
* imdb name|id=0000222|name=Brooke Shields
*
http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/104/107292.htm
?pagenumber=1 WebMD article on Shields and
Postpartum Depression
* http://www.thelonelyisland.com/episodes.html
"Regarding Ardy": an online short film with Brooke
Shields
*
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/opinion/01shield
s.html War of Words by Brooke Shields
* http://www.wma.com/brooke_shields/summary/
William Morris listing
*
http://www.angelfire.com/celeb2/super_models/Brook
e_Shields/bio.html from Super Model web ring
*
http://www.cinemotions.com/modules/Artistes/fiche/
18691/Brooke-Shields.html Info in French
*
http://www.tccandler.com/talent_file_brooke_shield
s.htm entry on T. C. Chandler site