Brooke Shields’ Mother Was The Force Behind Her Early Childhood Career
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Brooke Shields' new documentary about her life in Hollywood, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields directed by Lana Wilson of Miss Americana fame, premiered on Hulu and Disney+ earlier this month. The two-part film primarily focuses on Brooke's problematic upbringing in the limelight—and her relationship with her mother.
The film documents Brooke's exploitation by directors, awkward interview and photoshoot encounters, and other experiences she had early on in her career. A lot of Brooke's career was pushed by her mother, Teri Shields, who dreamed of her daughter "being a star." Teri acted as Brooke's manager, and often defended problematic choices that harmed her daughter for the sake of her career, per CNN.
In fact, Brooke actually got her start in the industry at just 11 months old because of her mother's dedication. While Brooke had a relationship with her father, she primarily spent her childhood with her mom. Here's everything to know about Brooke's parents, from her early childhood to where they are now:
Brooke's mom was a model.
Before Brooke was born in 1965, Teri Shields was working as a hairdresser, makeup artist and model, per The New York Times.
According to Brooke, her mom's real career didn't begin until she became her daughter's manager. Teri found Brooke's first job modeling for an advertisement for Ivory soap when Brooke was 11 months old, igniting a childhood in front of the camera. When Brooke was 10, her mother arranged for her to have nude photos taken of her daughter, according to The New York Times. Later, she pushed for Brooke to star in problematic films like Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon.
In interviews, Teri would defend her exploitive choices by saying she was acting as any parent who wanted what was best for their child would, and said it was "wise" to take advantage of her daughter's beauty.
In the mid-1990s, Brooke fired her mother as her manager because of her struggles with alcoholism, per The U.S. Sun.
Brooke's father was an executive at Revlon and Estee Lauder.
Frank Shields was the son of the very successful top-ranking tennis player Frank Shields Sr., per PEOPLE. Brooke's father worked as a marketing executive for Revlon and Estee Lauder in New York City. In 1989, he started his own real estate firm called Frank Shields Associates in Palm Beach, Florida.
For the most part, Frank was tuned out of his daughter's life. He reportedly had an opposing stance toward Brooke's career from her mother, but never voiced it to Brooke, per PEOPLE. Despite his absence in her life, Brooke still felt close to her father and wanted him to be "proud" of her, she told The Sunday Times, per Insider.
When Brooke was accepted into Princeton for college, her father reportedly told her "I can't believe you turned out so well," per Insider.
Brooke's parents split up shortly after she was born.
Teri and Frank divorced when Brooke was only five months old, per PEOPLE. Her father remarried Diana "Didi" Lippert in 1970.
The couple had three children together: Marina, Olympia, and Christina. Didi also brought two of her own children into their family from a previous marriage: Diana Auchincloss Cunningham and Thomas Gore Auchincloss, per PEOPLE.
Brooke reportedly maintains a "close" relationship with her half-siblings and step-siblings.
Her father died in 2003.
Brooke's father died due to prostate cancer in Florida at the age of 61.
Her mother died in 2012.
Teri Shields died on October 31, 2012 at the age of 79 in New York. Her death reportedly followed a long illness related to dementia, Brooke released in a statement via The New York Times. Brooke's mother also struggled with alcoholism, which affected their relationship.
During a recent panel by Variety at Sundance, Brooke commented on her relationship with her mother, particularly after her death.
“You don’t ever recover from losing a parent,” Brooke said. “It’s a primal thing. You learn to put it in a different place in your heart. I also said goodbye to her every time she drank. She wasn’t present. I knew who she was capable of being because it was in there… I feel sad that she’s missing out on [Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields]. She’s probably looking down saying, ‘I didn’t get enough screen time.”
You can learn more about Brooke Shields' life and relationship with her parents in Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
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