The star opens up about her mother’s declining health, her changing body image, her first wrinkles and why she won’t become a "Hollywood casualty."
The way a celebrity arrives for an interview can be very telling. In Brooke Shields’s case, she alights with a friendly wave from a New York taxi. No limo. No hovering handlers. No BlackBerry. No giant sunglasses, no makeup (she is fresh from a Spinning class). Just Brooke, who strides over with a big grin and an outstretched hand. This is going to be fun.Of course, despite the lack of fanfare, Shields’s arrival causes a ripple of excitement at the New Museum, on the Lower East Side of New York City, where we are spending the afternoon. After all, this is a woman with one of the most recognizable faces in the world, someone who has spent all 43 of her years in the spotlight, from her debut as a baby Ivory Snow model to her most recent gig on TV’s Lipstick Jungle. But she’s cheerfully oblivious to the whispers, preferring to focus on the exhibition of work by American abstract artist Mary Heilmann. “I’ve been meaning to come to this museum forever,” says Shields, as she studies a vibrant pink and black painting called Tomorrow’s Parties. Six feet tall, slim and toned, she is wearing a simple and chic outfit: Earnest Sewn jeans, black Prada turtleneck, black boots. Her trademark lush hair, still wet from the gym, spills in waves down her back. Her face is as striking as ever, accented by slight creases at the corners of her eyes; Shields is clearly going the European age-with-dignity route rather than opting for the Hollywood plasticized model.
