An Unnerving Trip to the Canadian Arctic Helped Brooke Shields Realize Life's Fragility

Sara Singh

“About 25 years ago, I was asked by Marie Claire to visit the Arctic Circle in Canada to build an igloo, as one does, and to write a story about the process. I said yes because my best friend had recently died by suicide and I just wanted to get away. My faith in the universe was shaken and I needed something to happen. We went to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, and my now husband, Chris, came with me. The minute you get there, everything on you freezes. It was so cold that, if you went outside to pee, it'd freeze. We met our Inuit guides, who brought these sled dogs. The dogs are workers. You don't pet them—you feed them and make them mush. So when I got down on the ground with them to say hello, the dogs flipped over, exposed their bellies, howled, and got all up on me. They were thankful and sweet. I don't think they knew they wanted affection. When I left, they snapped right back into work mode. Later, I rode a sled being pulled by a trainee team of dogs. During the run, one of them couldn't keep up. He started yelping, then tripped and fell. The dogs were all tied to each other, so he was flipping around in the ice and snow like a fish out of water. I turned into Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits, screaming and crying, begging the musher to stop. One of the guides got the dog detached, and we flew past him—just left the dog. I was sobbing: ‘We have to go back! We have to go back!’ And they said, ‘The dog didn't make the cut.’ That night, before building the igloo, I saw this big blue glacier reflecting the moonlight. It was immense. This is what [my friend's] depression must have felt like, I thought, so overwhelming, like this glacier that's bigger than the Empire State Building. I started walking toward it, getting really close. I wanted to say a little prayer for my friend. As I moved to touch it, my guide came running and screaming. He stuck his spear into the ice ahead of me to show me it could've shifted, and I would have fallen right into the water and died. Being there made me really appreciate the fragility of life. Oh, and by the way: The dog found his way back.”

Brooke Shields stars in Mother of the Bride, streaming on Netflix on May 9th, 2024.

This article appeared in the May/June 2024 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler