Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Brooke Shields

Episode Date: November 28, 2021

Brooke Shields has been in our lives since she was a child, appearing in movies and on television, on magazine covers, and in famous ads for blue jeans. In this week’s Sunday Sitdown, Willie Geist gets together with the star to talk about navigating her long, successful career from starring in commercials as a baby to hanging out at Studio 54 as a teenager to her latest project, the Netflix holiday movie A Castle for Christmas. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. I've got a conversation for you today. I really think you're going to enjoy with an American icon. And yes, I'm going to use that term very, very liberally because it makes my guest absolutely cringe every time I do. She is the great Brooke Shields. She's a dear friend of mine. We met, I guess, eight or nine years ago, she filled in, randomly on the Today Show. I was co-hosting at the time the 9 o'clock hour of the Today Show. She was a celebrity fill-in host. It was the two of us. You'll hear us have this conversation. But my God, it felt like we'd known each other our entire lives. Immediate brother-sister energy.

And she's been a dear friend to my wife, Christina, with her husband, Chris Henchy, the great Chris Henchy. He's a film and television producer. Does all the movies with Will Ferrell. You can look him up, man. He's a great guy and one of the funniest people you'll ever meet. So, Brooke Shields has had an amazing life. I won't bore you with it because you've lived it right along with her, but she's been famous just about every day of her life. Her first modeling gig came when she was 11 months old for ivory soap. She starred at a 13-year-old in Pretty Baby, the Louis Male film that was controversial at the time. It's a great movie, but she played a child prostitute. Her performance was acclaimed, but there was controversy around it because of the role, and we get into that a little bit.

And I mean, from there, modeling the Calvin Klein commercial, you know all of it. She did suddenly Susan. She did Broadway. She's got this new lifestyle brand. She's starting now. She's in a new Netflix film called Castle for Christmas that's just about to come out. The point is she is a hustler. And I talked to her about that in our interview.

She's just since she was a kid, literally since she was a kid with her mom, Terry Shields at her side, with whom she has a great but kind of. complicated relationship, the late Terry Shields, who passed away a few years ago. There's just so much to talk about, so much life she's lived. Man, she was in high school going to Studio 54 with Michael Jackson and Andy Warhol and George Michael and dancing and getting home in time to go to bed and go to school the next day. So she's awesome.

She's a great friend of mine. I think you're going to have a great time getting to know her even a little better than you thought you did. It is the wonderful, the delightful, the brilliant. Brooke Shields right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Hi, Brooke. Hi. It's happening.

Hi. It's finally happening. I'm taking my glasses off, but I won't. They're pretty cool. Good, right? And the bottom is reading. It's like the bottom is reading and then the top is I can just go. Oh, wow.

And now I can see you and I can read. So if you want me to read something, I can do it on camera. But you actually only can see me. But only if I do this. You've got to look. Only if I go. There it is. There it is.

I'm so happy to see you. I'm so happy to see you. I just told you a second ago, I looked up the day we met, which was August 26, 2013 when you came to co-hosts the Today Show with me. We'd never met. And after 10 minutes or whatever, that first block was in my ear, how did you guys know each other? Yeah, I was getting in. I met her eight minutes ago.

Exactly. And I was like, where have you been all this time? I've missed you. It was wild, wasn't it? Yeah, it was like, it was. You know, it's also rare when in a professional circumstance in any way. I mean, I wasn't in my environment. I was more coming into yours.

But when you go like, oh, it is love at first sight in a way. That's what I told Christina, too. I was like, no, I mean, I feel like we might have been related at another time. That's what I felt. I was like, are you, did we go to high school? You're from New Jersey. I'm from New Jersey. And it was just like, no.

Didn't me? It was, yeah. And then we, you were talking. about the container store. You showed us some party tricks. Yeah. Tying a cherry stem. With my tongue. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, mm-hmm. Yeah. I see it. And then I meet Mr. Henchy and the whole thing comes together. And then you reenact the scene from dirty dancing. Yeah. We should disclose that, shouldn't we? I think we should. Yeah. I think we should. It was a late February snowy night.

Snowy, a birthday. It was a birthday, a 40th birthday for Christina. And that song came on, and your husband and I met eyes. And we knew what we had to do. What we had to do? And all of a sudden, slow motion came, and you collided. And I don't think you knew who was going to be Patrick Swayze and who was going to be. Right. But it was a little less than graceful, but it was a moment.

It was a showdown of like, I'm not doing the lift. Are you doing the lift? Neither we just kind of went into a hug and collapsed on the floor. But anyway, for all those reasons, I'm so happy to see you. I'm so happy to see you too. You have had quite a year. We're going to talk about your movie. Okay.

You've got the new lifestyle brand, beginning is now, which is amazing. Your daughter is off to college. We were not going to do it unless you want to do it because it hurts me too. You're going to, you have no idea. I'm getting close. Too close for comfort. Honestly, enjoy these four years because it's going to be like a limb has been cut off of your body. and you'll still feel it.

There'll be a phantom. Right, the phantom pain. A phantom something. Yeah. And, you know, if you've done it right, they don't look back. Right. You know, and you're like, you know, and they're fine. And you've set them up to, to, they'll always miss you, they'll always come back.

But, man, when you realize you've done a good job at making them independent or helping them become independent on their own, which is something I didn't do. I was so enmeshed with my mom that I didn't, you know, I thought I would die if I didn't see her every day. Right. And so that first period of time for me was really hard, whereas I'm getting, you know, pictures of her in the, you know, beer garden outfits.

A little October Fest. A little October Fest and braids. Uh-huh. So I'm like, she's adapted quite well. And she's happy and thriving, which is really what you want. I don't think you really bargain for it when they've sucked off your body. You've licked their blood off their wounds. And you've literally like the physicality of it, just the physicality of being a parent.

Yes. When it all of a sudden they don't live in the house with you. And they don't need the physicality the way you need it. No, and you're kind of like... Yeah, are we still doing this? No, no, okay. No, we're not doing it. Yeah, you had that Instagram post, which just shattered me and Christy.

Just because we care about you so much, but also just now everyone's thinking about their own lives and their own kids and stuff. It gets right here. Yeah. And, you know, and it was like that, you know, we see the scenes in the movies with the signs on the freeway and you're in the car and like, and you see that scene and you understand. and you understand it cinematically. And then you're in the car. And you're just, you're looking back and they keep getting further and further away. It's like a, it's just crazy.

I mean, I thank God that I can feel that deeply, I guess. I don't know. But it definitely almost, I said, I've never regretted having children until that's all. I was like, I don't mind the sleepless nights, the poop, and all tears and all that. And that's just Chris. I'm appearing here, by the way. You know, it's open my time. But, you know, you go like through all that stuff,

and then all of a sudden, but you don't really bargain for loving something, some body, something that much. Yes, yes. Okay. Well, we're going to come to you for tips and managing that when it comes up to us in four years. And I'm trying to send my 15-year-old away early. Let's get this out of the way. Let's just, let's just, no, no, guys just don't want to.

They're in the house anymore. Oh, that's a whole other... That's a whole other situation. You also had this terrible injury to your leg. Did I text? I texted you from the hospital, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And honestly, I didn't fully grasp in the moment how serious it was.

You said I broke my leg. I fell off, you know, it was exercising and I fell. But, I mean, there were moments you were saying, I wasn't sure if I was going to walk again or worse even. I think that it just kept getting worse. It just kept getting worse. Like every, like the first surgery wasn't supposed to have been done. It was done by a different doctor because my doctor's name wasn't on a floor. It was and my bone popped off the device. And then it was just, it was one thing after the other. And then I got a staff infection and a blood clot. And then by the third blood transfusion, like, that word in my mind living through the 80s is, you know, that means you might not, like, all of those things. And it was COVID. So I was alone. And I didn't know what I had, I had no control over anything. The only thing I had control over was like really learning how to walk again. And, you know, and in the middle of COVID, you know, you're, You're lucky because you don't have COVID. Right?

So you're just trying to be thankful for that and be strong, but I had never. I mean, I was in the hospital for a month and nobody could come and visit me. So you're just like, your mind. So there were no visitors? Chris never. Oh my gosh. That must have been brutal for you and for him too. And then I couldn't do Sophie's choice with the two kids.

I couldn't like you couldn't, even if I had the chance, you could only have one person, if at all. And that would be the one person through the whole stay. And so I was like, no, you guys, it's not stay with the kids. But it's like when you're, they didn't know what was wrong. And so I couldn't give them answers. And I just had to take one day at a time. And so the only thing that I could control was getting off the meds saying, like, I said, I don't want, I'm not leaving with a prescription.

Because I'll be writing another book about open. opioid addiction in like a minute. Like I'm, that's, I'm sure I would not be good with that. So I made them take me off the meds because I said when I go home, I want to feel the real pain now so that when I go home, I'm not shocked by what this pain is. Do you know, you don't feel pain, and you go home and you feel pain and you think you're dying, you know? So that, and then PT. So I don't know what I texted you, but I. Well, and it's still a work in progress, right? Yeah. And where how many, months out, eight or nine months or something like that. I can, you know, you don't realize I was in such good shape when I broke my femur

that I thought because I could just walk without crutches or a cane that I was back in shape again. And it's just, I'm completely atrophied. I mean, like really atrophied, so I have to kind of start back up again. So now I'm starting weight training again. Oh, good. So. And we just, you walked in?

We walked in. We walked up the stairs and you're... He'll booty. Yeah. And you don't take that stuff for granted anymore, I bet. Just basics. You know what? Here's the weird thing about going through something like that.

I never had to train myself to be grateful, have gratitude or be thankful or feel happy I got another day. Like, I live in huge amounts of gratitude with the people I have in my life, with opportunity with being able to work. So it wasn't like I needed to slow down and I needed to find the Lord. And, you know, I, so you sometimes go through things like this and it just is. It's just a thing. It's an accident. It's, you don't deserve.

It's not like you're, you know, the Catholic guilt would be like, oh, you know, you've had it too good. This is, you know, or whatever those things are that you. you think or, oh, I needed to slow down. It just was and it sucks and it was horrible. What are you going to do about it? Like, do you stay in the bed and never learn to walk again or do you learn to run and dance? Dance. That's what I'm looking for.

Getting back to dancing. Yeah. In a while. So when you got home, did Hinchy take good care of you? Did he shower you with all the things he couldn't shower you with that month in the hospital? It was not pretty. Showering was not pretty. There was very little pretty showering happening. When you need a walker to get to the shower, it doesn't make for a romantic. I didn't mean a literal shower, but if you want to get into that, please. Yeah. But yeah. No, I know. No, he was great. I think everybody was really scared. He's really good. He claims I'm not a good caretaker. I'm not good at being. taken care of that way. Oh, okay. You know, it, I don't like, you know, weakness to me isn't something that I, like, it hurts. Okay, it's fine. Right. Deal with it. You know, but so it was hard

for me to like not be able to move anywhere, you know, and so it was just, it was like, it was probably harder for him because I wasn't really good at accepting. Yeah. Accepting the help. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, of course. It was, it was, it was, it was, it was, kind of like, I'm good, I'm fine, fine. Right. But Hensi's like, he's like, you are such a good guy that he's, you know, he was still cooking and entertaining and, you know, I would just sort of go and he would, you know, he kept me laughing, which is really good.

He's very good at that. He's very good at that. Well, I'm glad you're feeling better. Thank you. And can't wait to see you dancing. And maybe in a dirty dancing reenact at some late night somewhere down the road. Yeah, Axelora. Yeah. Make that your goal.

Yeah, you know what? It's good to have goals. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Brooke Shields right after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now more of my conversation with Brooke Shields. Okay, so you also have this movie out. Yes. Netflix movie, a castle for Christmas.

Yes. Which had the amazing benefit, it seems to me, being shot for two. months in Scotland, which had to be cool, except it was during the pandemic. And so that you were pretty isolated, right? Well, I was extremely isolated, but it was such a miracle that during the pandemic, we were able, we had this just a pod. We were in one building, which was a hotel, and then there was a castle. And there were carriage houses in the castle. And so the director and I, we each had one and we stayed in one. And Carrie always, who is the romantic interest.

And he was in another different little area. And we were all alone and tested every other day. And we had no outbreaks of COVID. And we were doing a rom-com, which to me was, it was like medicine. You know, it was so nice to do a project. that wasn't dark and was happy, and there were horses and dogs and castles and snow and knitters and whiskey and pubs. So it was just, it was those, that feel good.

It was really good to be in a romantic comedy and be able to do comedy and still have, just it felt like good entertainment, you know. Yeah. So for people are going to see it, let's explain without giving too much away. Okay. who Sophie is and why she finds herself in Scotland? So her, Sophie is a very famous writer. Her daughter has gone to college.

She is an empty nester. She was a single mom. Her father was the son of a caretaker of a castle in Scotland. And she had grown up hearing about the castle and his history with it. And she had always promised that she would go with him. And he passed away. And so she finds herself thinking, she's this very famous writer. She does the unfortunate thing of killing off her main character and in angering all of her fans.

They're furious. Like protests with signs, furious. They are so angry with her that she killed off their love interest. And so to get out of town. and hopefully fix this and write the new novel, she decides to go to Scotland. And there's a castle and there's a duke. All the things you want out of the movie in Scotland.

Castles and dukes. Castles and dukes and whiskey. And we dram. What struck me at first about it because it was an important piece for me was to be a woman, my age, with having raised a child, having had a career, and finding herself really at a turning point,

but not knowing what's next and what to do in this new chapter of her life. And there's something about these movies that Netflix, for this particular portion of Netflix, that they're wanting to do is really support women, women my age, you know, women my age you are starting new chapters, you know? And it was like, it's nice because she wasn't waiting to be saved. She wasn't, you know, she's just a, she's a mom and a career woman,

and she doesn't know what's next in her life. And so there was like really a refreshing approach to me for female characters that I see. Well, you sort of answered my next question was when you're looking, when jobs come across your desk and they pitch you and read this, script. At this point, what do you want to do? What do you look for? What do you say yes to? Like, that's worth me going away for two months. You know, it's changed, excuse me, it's changed so much over the years because when I was much younger, I wanted angst and I wanted to feel everything. And, you know, and now I want to have fun in my day. I want joy. And I love comedy. I love comedy. so much that it's like

it's like an IV. It's literally. And so I don't want to spend my day being miserable because it's hard to really do heavy drama, you know? And there's so many beautiful actresses who do it brilliantly.

And what I like to do and what I do the best is comedy. And it makes sense to me. I understand the rhythm. I understand the music in it. And there's something that happens when I'm doing it that I sort of lose. I'm not watching myself. And that's such a gift to, because I stare at myself all the time, clearly.

No, but you know when you sort of step out of your skin, well, you don't really, you're not monitoring, you're not judging, you're not saying, oh, there's something really, it's almost like, being in a trance of some kind. Yeah, no. And I'm not, I'm not saying my comedy is genius or brilliant, but there's something when I'm in that environment that is so freeing and fun for me. And isn't it fun to be at the point in your life and career

where you can just make that choice and not say, what should I be doing now? What's best for my career, which I do, just to say, I want to go have a good experience on a set. I want to go have fun. Well, that's a luxury. Right. But you've earned it.

You know, thank you. I don't know if you ever really earn anything like that in this industry, because I think you're, A, it's based on more rejection than it is acceptance. And I'd be lying if I said, oh, I can just decide to do that project. And my entire career has not been predicated on any path. I mean, we never had a plan. We never knew what we were doing. Oh, I've read your book.

So it was like, oh, you do this movie, you get a car. Okay, all right, you get to move to a big house, you know. So it was, everything was sort of experience-based or monetarily going to be beneficial to get me to go to that college or that, you know. And so I think that we sort of, my mother and I as a team acted less out of professional focus or, or, or, or, foresight and more just out of reactionary, oh, this looks good. You know, this is fun or this fits into your summer vacation. Now I've gotten to a stage and an age and a, I've been around long enough that I'm learning how to balance what I do monetarily so that I can keep making choices professionally and

creatively. You know what I mean? So it's like it's a, and that's a gift too because, you know, I, I became not an actress. I was sort of something different or a celebrity before. You were just telling me you're an icon. You said, please refer me as an icon. I said, please refer, I prefer to be referred to. Yes. I'm sorry it took me that long to get there. Focus here. Not here and not here. But there's something that happens that it's an inadvertent, you know, and you become something, and it doesn't necessarily make it easy to dictate a career path. Right.

You sort of, you get into crisis management, you know, for a good portion of my career. I think I was in that. And then you learn over time. I mean, the one thing that I kept doing was not stopping, you know. And the through line is, okay, you don't want me here. That doesn't mean I'm going to sit at home and stare at the phone. I'm going to go over here. You know, they might want me here.

And it's a weird thing to say they want me. And it's, but being an actress is kind of like raising your hand. Like, oh, pick me, pick me. For the most part, if you're lucky enough to be able to be in a position to make your own films and do all that, which is hard to do, that's different. But for the most part, you are trying to be chosen, so to speak. And so you have to kind of navigate that so that you don't become a victim. You still have a sense, a modicum of control. And the only thing you can, it's like being able to walk the end, right?

Like the only thing I could control being in the hospital was taking steps, literally physical steps. In my career, the only thing that I was. I can really control is maintaining creativity and keeping that going. That's not going to be dormant if it's writing a book, if it's doing a Broadway show, a TV show, a Netflix movie, like whatever is currently available, and it's also about saying no, whereas I used to think I had to say yes to everything. They're going to forget me or they won't make me or whatever. Right. And now I'm realizing the power in being. more selective and then knowing, okay, if I say no to that, I'm going to have to make that up

somewhere else or I'm going to have to figure it out. You know, it's a business. You're a hustler in a lot of ways. You really are. I mean, that is a compliment. I know, but I mean, you could just sit back and be like, I got a good life and I'll do a few things here. But I feel like you're always looking for something and you're always pushing to do whether you're out here doing a Broadway show or you're doing movies or you're writing books or you're endorsing products or this lifestyle grant. Is it fair to call you a hustler? It's very fair. In fact, I think it's a beautiful term and I appreciate it because I've been pounding the pavement since I could crawl. Do you know what I mean? Literally. Literally. I saw the ivory commercial, 11 months old.

11 months, I was like, you know what I want to do, Mom? I, you know, I happened into it too. So if you think, like, I feel really lucky that I was blessed enough to have found myself in a vocation. You know, I mean, I could have sucked at it and I could have hated it. I don't think either of those two things. No. I'm true. But I found myself in a position to work hard. And I think that that has served me.

for decades because it's about work ethic and it's about, we talk about this, you know, it's about being a good human being and being respectful and therefore gaining respect and working hard. And to me, that has given me longevity. And then I was blessed to be able to go to college, you know, and learn to use a brain for something other than wit wanting to be picked. Right, right. Well, you also had another way to go if it came to that, right? Like, I went to a great school. Yeah, exactly. French major. Yep, that's going to get me barely far. Well, I was watching this morning, the first time you were on the Tonight Show, you were 13 years old, and you come out, oh, you remember it. My suede dress and my suede. Yes, yes. Yes. Yes.

It was an ensemble. It was a look. 1978, 13 years old. You sit down and you're nervous, understandably. And I'm like, you're sitting next to Johnny Carson. And by the way, all the expressions are the same. Seriously, I was like, that's Brooke. Little faces you're making.

It was amazing. And I thought, gosh, I mean, that was, so that's during or right after Pretty Baby, right? It was right after Pretty Baby and right during Wanda Nevada. Right. Because that was, hence, the suede. Oh, it was thematic, right. Yeah, that makes sense. I was very, I thought of the through line of the theme.

Yeah, you're good. Doing the movie with Peter Fonda and Henry Fonda. Right, right. It was in Arizona. And Johnny made a joke. What, Jane wasn't available? And you were just like, no, she wasn't there. You were just like, got to get through this.

Got to get through this. Well, and I remember thinking that in a weird way, that wasn't fair to Jane only because he was going like father, son, where's the sister? And I was thinking, she's like a really good, serious actress. Like, I play like a kid in this. Like, she wouldn't, I mean, I was incensed with the joke. Like, I remember thinking that it didn't seem respectful to Jane to just lump her into, he was just making a joke, you know, but at that point, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I was like, no, she's Jane Fonda. You know, I'm just 12.

You didn't want to cross Jane either. I didn't want to cross Jane. There was something that happened the next, I think it was the next time I was on Johnny on the Carson show. And I don't know if it was that. I don't think I was, I wasn't confident enough for them, but I think it was like the next time I was on. And he kept saying, so, like if this acting thing were to go away,

well, I mean, what would you? And I'd be like, well, no, I mean, I don't know. And then he's like, well, no, I mean, like, just say tomorrow. And do you wake up and poof, it's gone. And I was like, I mean, I really go. He's like, they're really like, if you were not to be an actress, what would you do? And I look at him and I go, wow, somebody really doesn't want me to be an actor, don't they? And he was like, because it was funny to me that I was like, do you, are you trying to tell me something? Like, should I give it up now? What? But it was so funny to me.

And I looked at that one recently. And I've had to go back and look at some of my early stuff. Just YouTubeing yourself. Just having a loop in my house. Get out of my house. Shut up. Your mother was funny. But, you know, this sort of like going back to that little girl going, wow, they've

had it in for you since day one. Yeah. Like, you know, I mean, he was always sweet to me. Johnny was always really sweet to me. And very, and I never tried, like, to be funnier than he was. And even the time I did Karnak, did you ever see that? Yeah, I've seen that too. Yeah.

It was a complete present for him, but we didn't tell anybody. We didn't tell anybody into the cameraman. I'd come out and I purposely trip up the steps to do Karnak because I wanted to do it for him. And Tommy Smothers was sitting there and thank God I had told him about it. I had told him about it in the dressing room because I was practicing my Pratt fall. And my mom said, wouldn't it be funny if you made Johnny laugh? Like if you did a fall instead of him doing a fall, we didn't know we were supposed to tell the camera crew. So I dropped out of frame.

They missed it. And Johnny's, all I have is picture of Johnny reaching over the table and his cuffs are out. And he's thinking, I've cracked my skull. Right, right. So, you know, I think when you grow up in all of it, you just sort of start to really see how crazy it all of it. Well, I was just thinking watching that, like how you've navigated your way through a childhood, like maybe no one else has ever had in America. I mean, seriously, when you're on the cover of every big magazine and you're in this movie that's highly regarded but also controversial and pretty baby and all those things that came. And I guess the question is, how did you survive that and become this incredibly well-adjusted woman and great wife and mother and all the things you are?

Because not everyone survives it. I mentioned I was talking to Diane Lane about this very topic a couple of weeks ago. And, you know, she had some thoughts about it too. And she said, it's interesting. We use the word survive because it really is. There is an element of survival to it. You're treading water the minute you're out of the womb. like in a way.

I mean, she's always had a really good head on her shoulders, though, too. Like, there are some, you know, some, there aren't that many of us who were child stars. Um,

and it really is, it's a, it's a balance, I think of, of somewhere in your character. It's the type of fighter you are. Um, I always,

I always had a tenacity to me. And also, I didn't want to be surrounded by assholes. Yeah. I mean, I know that sounds like weird, but when you learn at a very young age, if you're in this business, to sort of ferret out, oh, that's quality. Oh, I can trust this. Oh, I can't. This.

Oh. And so you kind of have to have this six, seventh, eighth sense about you for people and for BS and for us. and for all that stuff. So I think that that was somewhere in, and now maybe it's because I had an alcoholic mother, and I had to have my senses very acute from the time I was little, but I had the balance of my father, who was very, very by the rules, very preppy.

My mom, Bohemian, and we had a fabulous life, but there was a balance to it. And then I always went to school. Right. I never moved out to L.A. I never went to professional children's school. I never took a high school equivalency test or anything like that. And so I never kind of got lumped into the system in Hollywood.

And I think that something about being raised, born in New York, you know, raised in New York and Jersey, and having really not being surrounded by people in the industry, I think gave me a bit of perspective, you know. And for as complicated as she was your mom in some ways, protected you from some of that, right? Or all of that. Completely.

Yeah. I never had a Me Too moment. I never had any of these casting couch situations. Like, I mean, you know, she was hated for the most part because, you know, she was brutal because she couldn't know what he could get near me. So in a sense, I was in a bubble. and I was trying to keep her alive. And I was having fun.

Like the weird thing about it is everybody sort of thinks that this industry destroys you. It can. I never knew anything else. There was something to be said for that. I didn't have anonymity and then all of a sudden at 18 do Blue Lagoon and, you know, be, my world changed. So it was constant and gradual and it always was about hard work. So those things I think contributed, not being in Hollywood, was that. But the through line was my mom because she just, she didn't let anybody get to me.

But she also taught me manners, taught me ethics, you know, raised me as a good Catholic girl. And, you know, and so there was this sort of, I got to see other perspectives of this crazy world, which is really, it's insane this business. It's not, it's not normal. Do you know? I mean, it doesn't, it just shoes you up and spits you out, especially if you're a kid. You know, it's predicated on eating it's young. Like, you know, so, but I had so much fun through it. And the crews and the casts and the sets were my family.

So you talk about Diane being in an acting troupe, there's a sense of family to that. You know, if you're in theater, you look out, that's your family. And we don't, we, I didn't grow up, it takes a village, but. That was my village, you know. So I think that there, I feel luckier that it was, I can't say it was gradual, but it was continual. Yeah. Yeah.

It was always there. I mean. Yeah. But hard work was always there. Yeah. And nothing came without it. And I think that kind of work ethic makes you at this stage say, all right, that was horrible and that didn't work out, but I'm going to go over here.

I'm going to just keep going because nothing. really undoes you. Yeah. For every time we've, like, been together and, you know, you're just Brooke and you're funny and you're relatable and all that. And then you'll just be like, yeah, I was at Studio 54 with Michael Jackson. And you're like, oh, right, she's Brooke Shield. Right, right.

There are occasional reminders of, you know, I was on Wayne Newton's plane. I love the ones you remember. It's so funny. So I recently went to a storage. My storage unit. You love a good container. I love a container. I love a container.

I love labels. Love labels. My label maker has a label on it that says the label maker. Wow. That was just funny. Maybe an intervention. Yeah, I just thought it was fun. I thought that was ironic.

But I went recently and I got all my diaries, but not my dear diary. I had pizza day. Like my day diaries. And that was the age prior to File of Fylofax and then through File of FylaFax. And I have Polaroids of Johnny Cash and June Carter at their fireplace. And now I'm keeping hearing and like, and I'm looking on our date. Oh, that's another story. It's a good story.

And I'm going like, oh, oh, and the notes I write on them. And like, there's something in there. And I just kept, that was another part of my keep it in a picture in the book. And it happened. And you can remember it. And it's part of your history. And you turn the page. And there was something like weirdly type AOCD about it, but very calming.

Yeah. And now I look back at it. And I'm like, I can Miss Piggy. This feels like another book, by the way. Every page is a Polaroid, and then you tell us the story of Polaroid. I'm playing with the, because it's just such a good visual. I'm trying to kind of play with how to be creative with it and see what to do. When you look at those pictures or when you think about, I'm joked about Studio 54,

we're being 12 years old on a school night at Studio 54, you are yourself now. Do you look back and go, I can't believe all of that happened? I can't believe that was my life, or does it feel familiar to you? It feels extremely familiar because I was home by midnight. And I was at school the next day. So there was this weird sense of normalcy. And I would do it.

I would walk into Zenon or Studio 54, and there'd be like a roped off section. Mom would go sit, drink in the roped off section. I would go, can I go dance? I would go pick a dancer, whoever was the best dancer, even if I had to take them off the queue and dance like a crazy person for two hours and go home. I didn't drink.

They were instructed not to pass me the bag of whatever. Candy bag. The candy bag. I never went up to the fourth floor until I was starring in cabaret at Studio 54 and my dressing room was on the fourth floor. Isn't that amazing? I mean, I walked into the dressing room going, this is the candy room.

This is the room. Did you push up the ceiling tiles or anything? Did there have any old relics of the past? No, I just redecorated it a little bit and did, you know, did my stint and cabaret. I'm thinking about show and tell at school the next day. Hey, what did you guys do last night? We won our T-ball game. Oh, I was with Mick Jagger at C.O. 54.

Well, a funny thing happened when I was in high school, I was doing the Calvin Klein ads. and they gave me a script, a minute-long monologue that I had to memorize on what a gene is. And in order to begin the study of life, which we call, you know, survival of the fittest is the button. And I memorize it. We do the commercial. It's, you know, I'm so proud of it. It's Richard Avedon filming it. I get to high school the next morning, and we have a pop quiz. What is a gene? I recite, I write the entire minute long commercial, because there's just one question.

I got an A plus or something. And I remember thinking, yeah, they think that this industry is going to undo me. Well, it's going to get an A plus in my classes. And it was a moment where I thought, you can make, you can, you can make all this work for you. You know, you can, you don't have to be a victim to it, the craziness. Like, you can go to Studio 54. I mean, I also didn't drink and didn't take drugs.

So that's a huge piece of it because, you know, that changes everything, obviously, you know. So I think that that also, I was a kid, you know, and I was still sort of allowed to be a kid, which was a miracle. And then when you decide to go to college to Princeton, were there people saying, what are you doing? These are four years of your prime. You can't go to college right now. You're hot.

You're all over the place. You should be moved to L.A. They all said it. But you had no doubt you were going to college. It didn't occur to me not to go. You know, it really just didn't. And I had been working for so long by then. It was almost like a vacation.

Right. You know, I mean, had I reached a frenzied level of whatever you call it after not ever having it, maybe I would have second guessed or something. I maybe would have thought like, oh, I don't know, they're going to take this away from you. I didn't even think about it. Thankfully, because I was in for a real shock when I got out of college. It was like, who? I'm sorry, what? Right.

So the thing they warned you about professionally did happen. Hands down. You were gone. Tenfold. Really? Yeah. And I was like 20 pounds every year and just, you know. You had a good time at college. Yeah. Yeah, I had a good time of college. So, but it just, you know, I wasn't going to, luckily I didn't make that mistake.

You know, I didn't because I also could have very easily disappeared right after that, you know. So some freak thing in my trajectory, allowed me longevity, even if it was, it's been like this, you know. And it is. It's like, there's, but you always, you're always moving. I'm always moving. I'm always swimming. Yeah.

Are you, so when you got out of college and you thought, okay, they're done with me, what was the moment that got you back in? Like, what was there a show or a project that's, okay, now I'm back in this business? So first of all, I didn't admit. that they were off me. I had never had representation. So it was just me and my mom. And then we started having making,

we started to have to make decisions that were not great career moves, like just money gigs, like sell this thing. And it's different. It's not like now you go to Japan, but it was like, you know, the certain, they ship you out to different countries and advertise something.

and you get paid. And you check, yeah. And so I started going, wow, this doesn't feel like it's heading towards something that I feel good about. Now it's starting to feel like a chore. I'm not getting to go on my movie sets and live in different locations and get close with people and learn about characters. And just, you know, I didn't have that. So that whole creative piece of my life was just dormant. And so I just started studying. I started taking it. I started taking all acting classes and I started dancing three and four classes a day and I started just going like okay I'm going to learn that if this is a craft I'm going to learn about it you know and just sort of recommitted myself to something that I loved um and then I got um grace yeah grace on broadway and this

was the first time that people were um that any producer had ever stunt casted you know they they get a show with the star. They get the Tony, they do whatever, and then that star leaves, and then they're kind of like, oh, we need to keep the show open. So they started putting famous people in or recognized people. And I had never been on stage before, and they brought me into audition for Tommy Toon. No pressure. God, I think, I think, saying summertime or something, I mean, it was just, and then I found myself having to dance next. to him and going, oh, God, oh, God. And that really was just a, it was a huge, like it was a seismic shift for me because it was, in that environment, it's purely about hard work.

I mean, yes, talent, and there is extraordinary talent. But I was coming in, not being an expert in any of it, right? Doing all of it well enough and having, box office so that I could keep a show open. But it's eight a week. They're trotting you out like a circus pony. Like you cannot believe what they're making you do. And you're stinging in the freezing cold and the Macy's Day parade and you're, you know, and it's like such, you talk about being a hofer and a hustler. But I was familiar with the grind. And they think that that was, and then I got rewarded for it. Like people loved it and clapped. And then my, My ego was like, oh, when I'm working this hard and they like me.

You know, I mean, it was like a Sally Field moment, like, all the time. Right. And so it was that moment, really. And then I got called to do the Friends episode. And that, I mean, that was like my, what's the soda fountain from Schwabes, Lana Turner, getting discovered. It's Schwabs, right? Schwabbs, Lana Turner.

That was my Lana Turner. So you were in, were you in Greece? I was in Greece, you were in Greece, as Rizzo. Right. I got called. It either worked out or, yeah, no, it was a week off, so I was finished with the show. Thank God. Yeah.

Oh, I can't imagine. The horror. And they said, oh, they want you to be on friends. And I was like, I'm going to be with the friends. And I said yes. I said, my only stipulation was, I didn't read the script, I didn't know what the character was. I just didn't want to play myself. Because I was like, you know, you get into a rut of, and I don't mind the self-deprecating, make fun of me thing.

Like that, I've done that a lot, less these days, but it's another story. But I was, I said, you know what, I just, I want to play a character. Just get any character. I don't care what it is really, but just I just don't want to be me. Right. Because it's not, I can be funnier if I don't have to be me. Right. And it was just the best.

I was reading that that episode, and I actually had to look three different places because it couldn't have been true, had 53 million viewers. Like, that's not a number. It's a Super Bowl. Yeah. It's like not a number that's plausible anymore. But obviously that show was that. And I think it was the highest rated Friends episode ever. So you do great on that.

Yeah. Barring the finale, probably. But you do great on that. Oh, Brooke's really good. Then suddenly Susan comes in. And then like now you're on a roll. And by the way, Broadway's still there for you with Cabaret and Chicago and all the other things. So now all of a sudden because you worked hard to get grease and be good at that, everything else flows from that.

It does. And it's, you know, I mean, it doesn't always happen that way. I would still have kept going doing something. We would be having maybe a different conversation, if at all. But that was definitely, because. I hadn't ever been asked to be funny before. I'd done 27 Bob Hope shows all over the world. But no, people wanted this some essence of me.

And it was never my happiest place. And so when suddenly Susan came, it was like, and Friends was the first time my comedy itself was trusted. Because I wanted to do it a certain way, and they didn't want me to do it a certain way. And I did it the way they wanted. And then in the second take, they said, put it back in. And I added something that was just the crazy maniacal laugh.

And that was a moment for me because I thought, you have to trust your instincts. You have to start believing in yourself more because other people, how can they if you don't? And until then, I don't think I had really, I felt like I was always sort of an imposter in some way. And everyone has an impression of you. They're not expecting you to be funny.

So sometimes you just have to show them. This can happen. And it will be good when it does. And we can all have fun. So that was a really blessed, well, three and a half years, for four seasons. Stick around for more of my conversation with Brooke Shields right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Brooke Shields.

Well, I could go through your entire career, but that would be boring. I don't want to bore you. So I want to talk about your lifestyle brand. Very cool. What was the idea behind it? What was the genesis? And what do you hope it does? So I was, it was right prior just the beginning of COVID.

And I was sort of lamenting that here I am. I'm in my 50s. I'm 56 now. But, you know, a couple years ago, I was like, I feel stronger. I feel sexier. I feel more in my skin. I don't feel like I'm not worried the same way. I've raised kids.

I've got a good marriage. Like, I can work. You know, everything felt powerful. And yet I felt that my age bracket was not being represented. You know, as we get older, we get less and less represented. And we're, why aren't we allowed? to be sexy in our 50s. You know, why aren't we, you know, why is it, you know, the 20s or depends?

You know? I mean, like, it's sort of this, and there's this power place in this piece, this bracket that is a hard one to market to because it's very diverse. It's married, not married, kids, no kids, career, no career. Like, there's so much variety in this. But at any given moment, there's, you know, what, 50 million women in their 50s in the U.S.? Like, that fact alone, I don't know if that's the exact number, but it's, I thought, God, why can't we be celebrated for what our next chapter is? And why does it have to be, you know, just rocking a chair

and gum food? And it's like, it's sort of, I thought, wait a minute, the women that I know, I mean, Christina started it with her company. And that was before, I mean, she was younger. She was 40, but that's these new chapters that and women are starting them all the time and they're pivoting. And they have income, you know, their own. I mean, they're self-sufficient. They're not looking to be saved by anybody. And yet they find themselves empty nesters or almost empty nesters.

And they sort of say like, well, God, what's next? This can't be it. I'm not done. So I launched beginning as now because I feel as if I'm just beginning. And that was a very, that was coming from a place of power rather than old age, you know. And so we were extremely content focused, you know, it was a lifestyle brand. We like to call it a life being brand. And I didn't want to pigeonhole it into something.

And it really was just we wanted to create the community and learn from the community, what people want, how they're pivoting, where they feel not represented, their stories. But as the community has gotten bigger, faster, everybody wants problem solved. You know, they want to know what thing works for this. What do you use for this? what's the, and so to sort of, you know, pivot a little bit and sort of shift a little bit into a balanced commerce content is sort of where we are. But it's the first thing I've ever done completely by myself. I mean, I had to sign on a CEO line.

Oh. I usually sign under talent or, I don't know, whatever, or personality or whatever the word is. Yeah, I was like, I'm the CEO. Oh, that's me. Yeah. There we go. And there's something very frightening about it. Sure.

Especially when you're putting up your own capital. And we are now getting investors. And that's like a whole other thing. And so it's definitely a learning curve. I've listened to how I speak in the pitch, so to speak. and how that sort of changed and how much I'm learning. And it's definitely a very new and big chapter for me. And something, again, there's the hustle of like,

oh, here's this new challenge. It's going to be hard and it's going to be scary, but let's give it a shot. Yeah, let's throw it against the wall and see what sticks. And that's the kind of thing. And every time I get scared or start to think, oh, what am I doing? I don't know anything about this.

What do I know about, you know, trademarks and categories and all, you know. And then I think, wait a minute, this is exactly what you're asking people to do. You're asking women to do this. You're asking them to take this leap without knowing what it's going to be, without knowing how the ground's going to be when you land without knowing any of it. But kind of balls to the wall, like just do walk the walk. And who the heck knows what could happen with it? And if it fails miserably, I will have done absolutely my best.

Right. You took a shot. I did, you know. You took your shot. I'm not on the bench. You know what I mean? And I think that's the thing that I, being the sports enthusiast that I am, I'm not even quite sure which sports have benches. But I saw you, after you went to the bench, you started fishing for, hmm.

What's the next part I got up at that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good. I'm on it. So, yeah, I'm up at the bat, at plate or whatever. You're yes.

Close enough. We'll fix it in post. Yeah, we'll just put all these words in a different order. Dumb and me. There's this thing about not, I don't like not being given a shot at least. Do you know what I mean? Like, if I fall and fail, at least it's on me. But, you know, but I'm always going to try to take the chance and take the shot.

Yeah. And I think you're right. There's definitely a market for that more than there ever was, not only because of the way we perceive women as being able to have another chapter, but the pandemic has made everyone reevaluate everything. And then I just drop and say, what do I really want out of life? Maybe that's a different career that I actually could start now. And we're very set. We get very set.

We get very comfortable with labels and what we should do and what we're supposed to do, and especially females, you know. And so much of your life is a clock that deals with fertility, you know, if that is something that's important to you. But what it does is it puts you on this sort of treadmill. I better have kids now, or I want them, so I better have them now, and my eggs are getting old. So that is this sort of innate time frame.

But then there's no real, we're not really taught how to embrace in other cultures. we are taught how to embrace the wise women and the grandmothers and the and the those who choose the warriors in the village you know what I mean but we were not taught that I mean it's funny I just worked with Colgate again and it's the third time I worked with them and it was like I did when I was nine then I did just toothpaste or whitening or something like that and then I just did gums I'm waiting for dentures just waiting just waiting for that you're working your way up my way into the gums. But there's like, there's this whole sort of bracket of we need to change the rhetoric.

We need to talk about menopause differently. These things can't be postpartum depression can't be a terrifying, horrible, shameful thing. You know, your period when they're little girls, you shouldn't have to, your mother should be able to tell you about it, tell how to deal with it. You know, all these things, there are conversations that I just think need to be had and need to have humor around. And we need to celebrate sort of feeling really in our full lives and selves as women. And needing her men and loving are men. And your relationships change and grow. Yes.

Yeah. Well, it's timely and it's a great idea. And because you're doing it, I know it'll succeed. I literally could talk to you all day. Maybe we have. I haven't looked at my watch. I don't ever really stop talking. Have we hit the dinner? Have we hit the dinner rush yet?

It's been a while. Did you ask any questions? I just let the fuse at the beginning. I'm so happy to see you. This was so fun. I get so happy I met you on August 26, 2013. Me too. Which I just looked up.

And I'm so happy for this show and you and getting to watch you and getting to watch you do the in-depth of what you do and be smart and enjoy what you're doing. Thank you. I do. I do. I still have your daughter's bracelet. Oh, you do?

That was back then too, wasn't it? And now she's a 14-year-old teenager, four years from going to college. It all comes back around to that drama. Thanks, Brooke. Thank you. My big thanks again to Brooke for a great conversation. They all are with her. You can catch her new movie,

A Castle for Christmas streaming now on Netflix. And my thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to hear more of these conversations with my guests every week, be sure to click Follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.