Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields was May 31, 1965 born in New York City into a well-known American society family with links to Italian nobility. Her grandmother was the Italian princess Donna Marina Torlonia. Her father, Francis Alexander Shields, was a businessman, and her mother, Teri Shields (née Maria Theresa Schmonn), managed her career.
Shields adopted her middle name, Camille, for her Confirmation at age 10. Shields’ parents divorced when she was a child. Shields has three half-sisters and two stepsiblings. She attended the all-girl Lenox School. She graduated in 1983 from Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey. Into the mid-1980s, Shields was a resident of Haworth, New Jersey.
In the June 2009 issue of Health magazine, Shields announced she lost her virginity at age 22. She said she would have had sex earlier if she had a better image of her body.
In the mid 1980s while at Princeton, Shields dated classmate Dean Cain. Shields has also been linked to John F. Kennedy Jr and actor Liam Neeson. From April 19, 1997 to April 9, 1999, Shields was married to professional tennis player Andre Agassi; their marriage was annulled, the couple had been together since 1993. On April 4, 2001, she married television writer Chris Henchy. They have two daughters: Rowan Frances (b. May 15, 2003) and Grier Hammond (b. April 18, 2006).
In the spring of 2005, Shields spoke to magazines (such as Guideposts) and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to publicize her battle with postpartum depression, an experience that included depression, thoughts of suicide, an inability to respond to her baby’s needs and delayed maternal bonding. The illness may have been triggered by a traumatic childbirth, the death of her father three weeks earlier, stress from in vitro fertilization, a miscarriage and a family history of depression, as well as the hormones and life changes which were brought on by childbirth. Her book, Down Came the Rain, discusses her experience.
In May 2005, Tom Cruise, a Scientologist whose beliefs frown upon psychiatry, condemned Shields, both personally and professionally, particularly for both using and speaking in favor of the antidepressant drug Paxil. As Cruise 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?” Shields responded that Cruise’s statements about anti-depressants were “irresponsible” and “dangerous.” She said that he should “stick to fighting aliens” (a reference to Cruise’s starring role in War of the Worlds as well as some of the more exotic aspects of Scientology doctrine and teachings), “and let mothers decide the best way to treat postpartum depression.” The actress responded to a further attack by Cruise in an essay “War of Words” published in The New York Times on July 1, 2005, in which she made an individual case for the medication and said, “In a strange way, it was comforting to me when my obstetrician told me that my feelings of extreme despair and my suicidal thoughts were directly tied to a biochemical shift in my body. Once we admit that postpartum is a serious medical condition, then the treatment becomes more available and socially acceptable. With a doctor’s care, I have since tapered off the medication but, without it, I wouldn’t have become the loving parent I am today.” On August 31, 2006, according to USAToday.com, Cruise privately apologized to Shields for the incident and Shields accepted and said that it was “heartfelt.” Three months later, she and her husband attended the wedding of Cruise and Katie Holmes, in November, 2006.
Shields is a spokeswoman for Tupperware’s Chain of Confidence SMART Girls campaign, a program that teaches girls to nurture their mental and physical well-being.
