Brooke Shields has been a household name ever since she did her first commercial, at just 11 months old. As a teenage model and actress being managed by her mother, Brooke found her own image sexualized — but refused to play along with the media’s expectations. Since then, she’s acted on Broadway, starred in sitcoms and TV dramas, raised two daughters and written two memoirs. We spoke to Brooke about how to survive and stay sane amid intense public scrutiny.
On Working With Family
Brooke: On the one hand, I think family, you can trust more than anybody — friends, family. On the other hand, if money's involved or stuff like that, that's when it gets tricky. Full communication has to happen. In hindsight, I think it would have been healthier to have a bit more of a delineation between my professional life and my mom.
On Developing Boundaries
Brooke: The interesting thing about boundaries is people don't want other people to have boundaries, because then they can't get at them and they can't control them.
On Compartmentalizing As A Kid
Brooke: Compartmentalizing for me as a kid was very helpful. It was a defense mechanism. You can take it too far and not know where your real life is, but I always looked at it like a wheel and I was in the center of it, and each compartment was a spoke. And I just had to sort of put on that character and so that I could survive in it.
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