Escaping Life Under the Shadow of Brooke Shields

Was a child and teen model a world wide sensation? Did she go on to make controversial hit movies, graduate from an Ivy League University, perform on Broadway, become an author, and be an advocate and inspiration for many women? Could a girl living under her shadow find her own way? If we are talking about Brooke Shields and a young girl named Jenny, the answer is yes.

We’re taking a different approach to Fem Friday in regard to Brooke Shields. If you think you know who she is, you might be wrong. There are two great resources about her.

The first is a recent interview AARP did on her. It is a wonderful interview that touches on childhood, career, now, and so much more. It is truly spectacular. The interview can be found on their website at https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/info-2024/brooke-shields-interview.html

The other is a documentary that was made about her in 2023. The miniseries is called “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” and can be found streaming on Hulu and ABC.

The 80s may not have been the birth of the supermodel, but supermodels were as big, or bigger, in the 80’s as any athlete, music star, or actor. Names like Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington were known to all. But there was one model and actress who was our age that could not be ignored. Her name was Brooke Shields and because ads featuring her, Calvin Klein became one of the most sought after fashion brands.

She has been modeling since 1966 at the age of 11 months old. By 1977 she and her mom were featured in a cover story of New York Magazine. The full title of the story was. “Meet Teri and Brooke Shields: Brooke is Twelve. She poses nude. Teri is her mother. She thinks it’s swell.”

Most of the people of Gen X were not aware of any of this. We were also not aware of a nude scene she was in less than a year later in a movie called “Pretty Baby”. In 1978 Time Magazine would write a story about her titled, “Brooke Shields, 12, stirs furor over child porn in films.”

We also would not see the television talk show hosts that were asking her horribly inappropriate questions and speaking to her mother in the very same interviews as if Brooke was not there.

We would see her in print and television ads for Calvin Klein Jeans. The jeans were tight, the ads were short, and the phrases stuck in our consciousness. The most famous tagline was “You want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.”

Billboards, print ads, and television ads were seemingly on every major road, in every major magazine and newspaper, and on every channel.

And as all hell broke loose, the world was buying Calvin Klein jeans.

There was an uproar on all sides about Brooke’s ads. Concerned parents, the budding evangelical right, and 2nd wave feminists. The press had a field day raking a child over the coals. But the jeans were selling and she was a star.

That same year Brooke would star in a coming of age romance movie set on a deserted island. More sexual situations. More uproar.

Enter 1981 and a Bárbara Walters interview. In an interview on the Drew Barrymore Show, Brooke had the following to say about her interview with Walters.

“She asked me what my measurements were and asked me to stand up,” Shields, who was 15 at the time, told Barrymore. “And I stand up, and she was like comparing herself to this little girl. And I thought, ‘This isn’t right. I don’t understand what this is.’”

“But I just behaved and just smiled,” she said, acknowledging that she “felt so taken advantage of in so many ways.”

In a 2021 New York Post Interview Brooke called the interview practically criminal and not journalism. I agree.

From 1983 through 1987, Brooke left the photo and movie studios to study at Princeton. There were a few token news articles about it. It was not taken very seriously. While she worked her ass off, she had a breather from the center stage. But it would be a hard road back to the screen. But Brooke was more than people thought she was. She was more than the definitions of others. The girl become a woman. She had intellect, strength, and was more.

Brooke would find the stage during her time in Ivy League. That would lead to Broadway leading roles. Her intellectual skills would show in the written word. To date she has six books published. In a guest appearance on the hit 90’s show ‘Friends’ she would showcase her instincts and comedic timing honed on the stage. This would lead to her being cast as the lead in a sitcom called Suddenly Susan that lasted from 1996 to 2000.

She also became a mental health and postpartum depression advocate. She knew firsthand what postpartum depression was. At the time she started being an advocate, there was not much awareness on the matter. Her work significantly brought the issue to the forefront offering many women a voice, resources, hope, and treatment.

But her strength was not just found in maternal mental health. She was a survivor. Brooke overcame the codependency that manifested in her relationship with her mother and her first husband. She has also been outspoken as a victim of sexual assault at the hands of a Hollywood producer.

In 2024 she not only has an upcoming starring role in Netflix’s Movie “Mother of the Bride” but is an Entrepreneur. The business venture is called, ‘The Beginning is Now’. She aims to inspire women to take charge of their own lives with a focus on self-care and encouraging women over 40 to embrace their age in a world where ageism is particularly hard on women over 40.

She’s a bad ass and she had to get there on her own. And knowing what that loneliness feels like, she invited other women into community so they don’t have to feel that.

I am treading cautiously. Ever since I was a child, everyone was defining Brooke Shields. And in the interview and documentary I highlighted earlier, you will see that even at a young age she had her own definition of who she was. It has always been that definition that is the only one that mattered. But it was never the definition anyone was interested in.

Even today many do not care to hear her define herself. And by doing so they are missing out on an inspiring and amazing story and person.

In the 70’s and the 80’s she was a child and a teen. Our salacious entertainment journalism met the feeding frenzy appetite we have as we become participants in the devastation and devouring of real people.

Child entertainers of the 80’s and 90’s every so often get to tell their own stories today and if you listen, really listen, you will be horrified. If you are a parent, you should be especially horrified.

We create narratives in the image empire as opposed to learning the fascinating story that each and every one of us has.

I am not about to suggest I can ever relate to Brooke’s life, but I know the experience of a child and teen model.

Where she started at 11 months old I started at 22 months old. I only did one television commercial, but it was at a runway show in 1979 for Vidal Sassoon that my mom met the man who would become my abuser and molester. Then I sabotaged my career at 11 and returned to it in my teens on my terms and if a different context. I was having fun and not taking it seriously. But I was surrounded by wonderful Gen X women who had their own stories.

The lives of many of the models I knew in my youth are filled with memories of beauty and horror. One common theme? Being heard and seen was a hard road fought and you had few champions on either side of the social political fence. You are not you. You are a talking point and an object.

I struggled for a name for the Friday series. At first it was feminist Friday. Then female Friday. And it found it’s way to Fem Friday for a few reasons. The first is that feminist hurts the algorithm. The second is that there are some critical differences between 2nd wave and third wave feminism and anti feminists have a twisted definition of feminism. The third reason is that there are some women I have written about and will write about that are strong and inspirational women, but have ever been fully accepted in the world of feminism.

The final reason is that as a photographer and a film buff, I find great inspiration of Film Noir. In Film Noir you have the amazing Femme Fatales. These are strong bad ass sex positive women who fearlessly navigate in a man’s world of decades past.

So Fem Friday is sometimes feminists, females or bad asses beyond definition like the larger than life ahead of their time Femme Fatales in a time before feminism had power. For me, Brooke Shields is in that last category and I will define her based on her worlds and celebrate her.

In the Fem Friday series we had a trilogy that revolved around a woman I loved. I call it the Cassie Trilogy. In the first installment, “Debbie Harry and the Value of Blondie’s Deal” there are three brief mentions of a red headed model I worked with named Jenny. Her overlap with Brooke Shields and fight for her identity is also her story in herstory.

In Summer of 1988 I was barely 18, graduated high school, working at a men’s clothing store in the mall called Silverman’s while also doing freelance photography for a few local papers and modeling for fun occasionally. I was beginning to make friends at the mall. Even though I had no idea what the future held, the mall community was a renaissance that stood in stark contrast to my restrictive religious community. I lived in two worlds. Truth was I much preferred the world outside the church. I kept the worlds separate.

One day I was meeting my friend Norah for lunch at the food court. Norah was in her 20s and was a model who worked cosmetics in one of the high end anchor stores of the mall. She said she wanted me to meet a younger model she knew who was struggling and she thought I could help. Norah was so much further along in her career than I was and I had no idea how I could help, but I agreed to meet her and this young woman named Jenny.

I was running a little behind at work due to a customer who was upgrading his wardrobe to go with his new Porsche 911 and midlife crisis. It was too juicy an opportunity to refuse. As soon as I was done ringing up my first 4 digit sale, I headed as quickly as I could to the food court. I saw Norah and a redhead teenager sitting at a table. I waved at them and went to where I knew I could get something fast.

Orange Julius. A blonde girl named Cassie was working. I always got a little short of breath when I saw her and I pretended to be more cool than I was with our banter. We made eye contact as I got in line and she smiled and nodded toward me. When it was my turn at the counter she already had my smoothie in hand.

“Sunshine Orange for Don Johnson!” she said with a smile.

“Thank you, Blondie!” was my reply.

“That’s Miss Blondie Blonde Cassie to you.” she said as she handed me my drink.

I handed her some cash, told her to keep the change, gave her a quick bow, stood there awkwardly for a moment, and headed over to the table.

As soon as I saw Jenny. I knew why I was asked to meet with her.

I sat down and apologized for running late. Norah introduced me to the young redhead, Jenny. If Brooke Shields had red hair and freckles, that is almost exactly what Jenny looked like. She smiled warmly and shook my hand and said hello with a very unique accent and cadence I was familiar with. Jenny was hearing impaired. I immediately went into proper etiquette and ensured I was sitting directly across from her and spoke in a natural, but steady pace ensuring my lips were easy to read.

We started with some small talk and when Norah started to transition to the reason for us meeting, things took a turn. It was crowded in the mall that day and there was a lot of ambient noise in the background. Norah was speaking quickly, which was her norm, and I could see the discomfort and focus Jenny was putting into the conversation and she reached up a hand to adjust one of her hearing aids. That was when the feedback ring emanated from her hearing aid.

Hearing aids have come a long way. Back in the 80s the good models were prohibitively expensive and the ones most people could afford did not have sophisticated noise filtering and almost no feedback suppression. If you put the volume on too high the sound that was supposed to go into the ear canal jumps back into the hearing aid microphone. The sound then gets reamplified, and this causes the hearing aid to whistle loudly. Really loudly!

The feedback drew attention from others in the food court. I could see Jenny’s frustration as she swiftly fumbled for the volume. I made eye contact with her and signed, “Would this be easier?”

Jenny’s eyes widened as if I just did a magic trick as she signed back, “You know sign language?”

I smiled and signed back, “Trick question?”

She rolled her eyes and giggled and signed back, “Yes. This is better.”

I replied in sign language, “Okay! I’m rusty so go slow” She nodded. From there her and Norah and I had a conversation that was part spoken and part signed and I moved Norah close to me so Jenny could see us both more easily.

Jenny had a look. The Brooke Shields vibe was unmistakable. She did not photograph well. She could not wear her hearing aids for shoots and had a difficult time working with photographers. Jenny also had a very controlling mother who did not know as much as she thought she knew.

Norah knew that I used to have a step sister that was deaf and knew that I had experience with my own toxic mother. She saw something in Jenny but she needed a better portfolio to get her agency to look at Jenny. The first impression was a portfolio and the current one would not be right.

I asked if I could look at the current portfolio. They had a copy with them. The problem was more than just awkward photographs. The direction was wrong.

I looked at Jenny and signed, “Can we talk more?” She replied yes. I asked her if she wanted to meet at Denny’s by the mall after the mall closed. She grinned and said yes and thanked me. I interpreted for Norah and we all went our separate ways.

I pulled into the Denny’s parking lot in my ’77 Monte Carlo, stepped outside and was about to light a cigarette when I saw Jenny get out of a slightly rusted brown ’78 Mustang. She smiled and walked up to me and I put the cigarette back in the pack.

We got inside and settled into a booth and spoke in sign language. The more I spoke in sign the more it came back to me. We were making small talk at first and it was helping me get my groove on. When it came time to order we had an incident. Jenny made her own order in speech. A table near ours was 4 or 5 college age people who heard her voice and started mocking her voice and making R word references.

Our waitress looked at them with disdain and I, in a rare moment of boldness, told them to shut up. One of them challenged me and said, “Or what?”

Jenny piped in, “Or I cut off your tiny dick!” and then she gave the entire table a double bird. At this point the manager came over and the waitress told him the other table was making fun of Jenny for being deaf. They were told to leave and that ended that.

[Editor’s note: The rest of the conversation was signed, not spoken]

“Thanks for sticking up for me.” Jenny said.

“When I was in grade school I had someone close to me who was deaf. I used to get into a lot of fights when people made fun of her.” I replied.

“Is that where you learned to sign?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I learned to sign and helped her annunciate better.”

“Nice! ” She replied.

I changed things. “When did you get into modeling?”

“When I was 12.” She replied.

“How old are you now?” I asked

“18” she said.

“Me too,” I smiled. “Your mom’s idea or yours?”

“Mom. You know who I look like.” she replied with a shrug.

I took a deep breath. “Do you want to model?”

“Yes. But it’s frustrating. I know what I’m doing but I can’t hear the directions and it’s hard to read lips when a camera is in front of them and then they get frustrated and though I look like her, I can’t do her faces like they want me too.”

“Who’s idea is it to do the makeup the way they do? The base is too thick.” I asked.

“It’s to cover the freckles.” she replied.

“The freckles are..” I stopped. She motioned me to continue. I sighed and continued. “Sexy and the best part.” I could feel the heat in my face as I blushed. She giggled and replied, “Thank you.”

“Do you know what the best part of Brooke Shields is?” I asked. Jenny signed a question mark. ASL is so efficient. I continued. “She’s Brooke Shields. Do you know that the best part of you is?” She made another question mark. I continued. “You are you. Let me photograph you, not a poor man’s Brooke Shields.”

Jenny got an alarmed look on her face and said, “I can’t afford another portfolio!”

“It’s on me! Here’s the deal.” I said,” If it works out and we get you Norah’s agency, you tell other people about me. Fair?”

“Really?” she asked. “Thank you! How many of these have you done?”

“Including you? It’s about go up to one.” I shrugged and smiled. She laughed.

I then explained to her that I needed to know about her. So we had a conversation about her. What she likes, makes her laugh, interests her, disgusts her, and so much more. She was fascinating and loved old movies and spy movies and books.

We sat in Denny’s for hours and I had ideas that I pitched to her. She loved the vision and so did I. I had no clue if I was good enough to execute the vision on film, but we were going to find out in a few days.

Over the next few days I worked with Norah and her friend, Lisa. Lisa got us access to the photo studio in the back of the department store they used for Sunday flyers and others promotional tools. Lights, props, backdrops! It had it all. I gave Lisa and Norah Jenny’s measurements and told them what I would need in outfits, hair, and make up. And I made it clear we were shooting Jenny, not Brooke and the freckles were going to front and center!

I also let them know that I was bringing a friend I knew who could sign but I needed one more thing from them. I needed other models there to welcome her, make her feel equal, and encourage her.

The day of the shoot arrived. Jenny showed up and was shocked to see not just me, but my friend Kris who could sign (and was also my assistant manager at Silverman’s), Norah, Lisa, and 5 other models. She asked who they were. I told her they were here to make her feel like the rock star she is.

I explained to her that Kris would be behind and above me signing to her my direction but to also pay attention to my body. If I move my free hand in a direction that is me pretending to tilt her head, my shoulders would show what I wanted her to do, and if I twist my torso, that’s direction too. I asked her to show me the facial expressions I asked her to give me in the numbers I gave them to her as. They were solid and I practiced signing numbers to her so she could make those faces and we were in a groove.

All we had to do was hair and make up and the first outfit and we were underway.

We started with editorial shots of teen girl next door vibe. In some of the outfits I had her wear her hearing aids so they could be featured in quarter turns of her head with her hair pulled back. I had a plan.

Then we got to the final set. This was where I got into the fashion shoot. We went 1940s period on her hair and changed the makeup radically as I repositioned and added lights. Her outfit was neo futuristic noir. Somewhere between Rita Hayworth in Gilda and Sean Young as Racheal in Bladerunner.

We worked a cigarette into the session and did intense stare noir vibes and incorporated a small prop gun into some of the shots.

If I did not fuck up my settings, we were gong to have black and white magic on these shots. I did not fuck up.

I heard the models whisper to each other, I saw Jenny having fun expressing herself as she defined herself. This is what art is supposed to be and modeling is art. Photographer and model collaboration and this show happens with the help of hair, make up, assistants, support, and in this case, an interpreter.

After the session all the girls decided they were going to have a girls night out. This included Jenny. She had made friends that day and they did not see a lessor deaf girl or a Brooke Shield’s lookalike. They saw Jenny.

I went home to go develop film. This was going to be an all nighter and I was excited and afraid.

A few days later I went to the Marshall Field’s Department store with a mock up of what I put together for Norah to look at. I went to the cosmetics counter and handed it to her. She looked at it and put her hand to her mouth. “Godammit!” I thought. I had never done this before. But there was no budget for a seasoned pro in studio. I was hoping they would be okay, but I was sure I was about to hear that I blew it.

“Patrick,” Norah said. She had never called me Patrick. It was always Pat. This was gonna be bad. I was sure of it. “These are beautiful. I didn’t know you had this in you. We run this as is.” I was about to ask if she meant it, but she continued. “Can I work with you next week? I have something I want to do and I’d love to have you do it. I’ll pay you.” She meant it! I was stunned.

“Yeah. I will get this over to Wolf Photography right away.” I said.

She stopped me and asked if she could take this and bring it someone she knew for final. She said she could get it back faster and would get a copy to her agency, Jenny, and me as fast as she could and get a meeting set up.

A few days later Norah let me know she had a meeting set up and said that she wanted me there. While we waited the next few days two of the models who were at the shoot said they had seen the finished product from Norah and wanted to pay me to do some tweaks to their portfolios. I was stunned and we scheduled stuff and Lisa and Norah were helping me get access to the studio.

A few days later I parked my Monte Carlo on the street on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago. I was in the Gold Coast and as I fed the meter I saw Norah’s husband’s Firebird parked across the street. They were already there.

I went inside and to the meeting room.

Norah, Jenny, an agent from the agency, and another woman was in the room. The other woman was Jenny’s mother.

The agent looked at me and asked, “You were the photographer?” I said yes. “How old are you?” she asked. I said 18. She shook her head and told me it’s impressive work.

Then the focus was where it needed to be. Jenny.

Norah told the agent that though there has been no real paid work in her CV, the department store was putting her in the Homecoming and Prom runway shows and with some accommodations she can follow direction in session. The agent asked what accommodations. Norah motioned to me. I had to talk? No one said anything about talking.

“You would just need someone who can sign to be a translator.” I signed the conversation I was having for Jenny and for the room to see what this looks like. Then I signed to Jenny the face expression numbers and she followed suit and I did my hand thing and she moved her chin and head accordingly.

The agent told us that she already had a contract with a company that makes hearing aids if Jenny accepts. And the black and white shots were compelling and they would be happy to try to get her booked in fashion as well as editorial. She felt there was a unique look here. Unique. Not Brooke-ish. Fully Jenny. Unique. That was when her mom spoke.

“This is not what we decided is best.” Jenny’s mom said, “You know what our direction is. I don’t think this is going to work and I don’t appreciate all this going on behind my back.” Jenny started to sign to her mom in frustration and her mom cut her off. “Words, Jenny! You know I don’t know any of that stuff and I don’t like you doing that behind my back.”

Unusual courage hit me again. “Your daughter is hearing impaired and you don’t know ASL?” I was still signing for Jenny.

“I buy the hearing aids, pay for speech therapists, and do everything I can for her to look and sound normal, young man!”

“Normal!” I exclaimed. “Your daughter is normal and she is not a two bit Shield’s lookalike for office parties! What is wrong with you?”

Her mother stared at me incredulously for a moment. “How dare you! You can leave.”

Norah spoke slowly and calmly and reminded Jenny’s mother that Jenny was 18 and this was Jenny’s decision. Then Jenny signed something at her mother and crossed her arms. Her mother looked at her and then at me and asked, “What did she say?”

“She said you can leave, mother.”

A deal was struck. This was not a million dollar deal. Jenny did not grace the covers of Vogue. But for 3 or 4 years she got steady-ish gigs while she attended college and became a sonographer in a local area hospital. She stayed in sonography for years until getting promoted to management for a medical group which she now holds an administrative role.

She often says that modeling was the first space where she found confidence. The accommodations that were made for her when she got gigs in the late 80s and 90s also set a standard for her to expect reasonable accommodations from employers.

This meeting and the agreement for accommodations happened 2 years before passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990.

Under the shadow of Brooke Shields with parallels of controlling mothers, Jenny told her own story on her terms and helps other hearing impaired people tell their stories and live their lives. The only thing that gets in their way is us and our preconceived notions of them.

We can be those assholes at Denny’s and Barbara Walters, or we can be Norah and the modeling agency who made reasonable accommodations that changed a life. All we have to do is the right thing.

Dedicated to Erika

Every Feminist Friday is Dedicated to my friend Erika!

Erika died on Christmas leaving behind a family that has immediate needs.

Click here to read the story of how Erika saved my life when we were teenagers.

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