Brooke Shields

Brooke Christa Shields began modeling at 11 months old in an Ivory Soap advertisement photographed by Francesco Scavullo. Model agent Eileen Ford represented her beginning in 1975 and said she created a children's division of her agency after signing Shields. Shields also appeared in the 1974 television adaptation of Arthur Miller's After the Fall before making her feature-film debut in Alice, Sweet Alice (1976).

She attended the New Lincoln School in New York City and graduated from Dwight-Englewood School in New Jersey in 1983. While growing up, she studied piano, ballet, and horse riding. She was also a childhood friend of actress Laura Linney.

Shields became widely known after playing Violet, a child living in a brothel, in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby (1978). She was 11 when the film was made, and its sexual subject matter and nude scenes led to intense controversy. The film was banned in several jurisdictions, while Shields became the focus of public debate about the treatment and sexualization of child performers.

At 14, Shields starred opposite Christopher Atkins in The Blue Lagoon (1980), a romance adventure film about two cousins stranded on a tropical island. The film became a major commercial success despite renewed controversy surrounding its depiction of teenage sexuality. Her early film work continued with Endless Love (1981), directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and Sahara (1983), for which she received a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor.

Shields continued modeling alongside her acting career and became the youngest fashion model to appear on the cover of Vogue at age 14. In 1980, she appeared in a Calvin Klein jeans campaign photographed by Richard Avedon. The television advertisement ended with Shields saying, “You wanna know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” The campaign was considered provocative and received bans from ABC and CBS, but it further increased her public profile.

By the time she was 16, Shields was one of the most recognizable faces in the United States. She also appeared on several international editions of Vogue and supported the USO through tours with Bob Hope during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Shields suspended her modeling career in 1983 to attend Princeton University. She graduated with honors in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in Romance languages and completed a senior thesis about innocence, adolescence, and experience in Louis Malle's films Pretty Baby and Lacombe Lucien.

Her time at Princeton marked a shift toward developing an intellectual identity separate from her early modeling and acting image. She participated in the Princeton Triangle Club and the Cap and Gown Club. Her 1985 autobiography, On Your Own, was published while she was a student.

After returning to acting, Shields appeared in film, television, and theater roles. A guest appearance as Joey Tribbiani's stalker on Friends helped lead to her starring role in the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan, which ran from 1996 to 2000. Her performance earned two Golden Globe nominations and a People's Choice Award. She later appeared in Lipstick Jungle, That '70s Show, The Middle, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and other television productions.

Shields also performed in several major musical-theater revivals. She played Rizzo in Grease, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town, Roxie Hart in Chicago, and Morticia Addams in The Addams Family. Her work in Chicago, Cabaret, and Grease made her the first performer to appear in all three of those long-running Broadway revivals.

She wrote Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression in 2005, There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me in 2015, and Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old in 2025. Her 2023 two-part documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, examined her rise as a child star and the sexualization of young women in entertainment. She also launched the Now What? podcast in 2022 and founded the lifestyle brand Beginning Is Now in 2021.

Shields married tennis player Andre Agassi in 1997, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1999. She married television writer, director, and producer Chris Henchy in 2001. They have two daughters, Rowan Francis Henchy and Grier Hammond Henchy.

Shields has spoken publicly about experiencing postpartum depression after the birth of Rowan. She discussed suicidal thoughts, difficulty bonding with her baby, and treatment with antidepressants in Down Came the Rain. Actor Tom Cruise criticized her use of psychiatric medication in 2005, and Shields responded in a New York Times opinion article defending medical treatment for postpartum depression. Cruise later apologized to her in person, and she accepted the apology.

Shields said she first met Michael Jackson when she was 13 and described their relationship as a close friendship. She spoke at Jackson's 2009 memorial service, recalling that they spent time together socially, attended events, and supported one another while growing up in the public eye.

In the speech, Shields recalled accompanying Jackson as his date to one of Elizabeth Taylor's weddings. Jackson also discussed Shields in interviews, describing her as one of the loves of his life and saying that they dated and went out together.