Brooke Shields' Mother Teri Dead at 79
Brooke Shields' mother and former manager, Teri Shields, died on Oct. 31 at the age of 79, a spokeswoman for the actress told TheWrap. The elder Shields had been battling dementia.
"My mother was an enormous part of my life and of who I am today," Shields told TheWrap in a statement. "I loved her, laughed with her, and respected her. And although she had her share of struggles, she was my mom."
Born in Newark, N.J., in August 1933, Shields divorced Brooke's father, Francis Alexander Shields, shortly after the 1965 birth of their daughter. As Brooke's career as a young model and, later, actress began to blossom, Teri developed a reputation as the ultimate stage mother, eager to occupy a corner of the the spotlight that shone on her child.
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Her judgment would also be called into question as Brooke took racy assignments at a young age, such as her infamous Calvin Klein ad, when a teenage Shields told the camera, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." Shields' portrayal of a prostitute in the 1978 film "Pretty Baby," which was released when Brooke was just 12, also raised eyebrows.
The elder Shields also appeared alongside her daughter in the films "Wanda Nevada," "Endless Love" and "Backstreet Dreams."
Teri Shields would find herself in the center of a scandal one more time in her later years, when a tabloid reporter checked her out of a New Jersey assisted-living home and took her to a steak house. Though police determined that there was no criminal activity involved, the 2009 incident forced Brooke to go public with the news that Teri suffered from dementia and had been placed in a nursing home.
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