Skip to main content

Brooke Shields says Barbara Walters interview from her teen years was 'practically criminal'

Brooke Shields attends the Glamour Women of the Year Awards at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) 
Brooke Shields attends the Glamour Women of the Year Awards at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Share

Brooke Shields does not look back with fondness on an interview from the 1980s with Barbara Walters.

In a conversation with Dax Shepard for his "Armchair Expert" podcast, Shields recalled being interviewed by Walters when she was 15, following her famous Calvin Klein jeans campaign. Shields reflected on Walters asking her a series of questions that she now feels were invasive. Among them being, "what are your measurements?" and "Do you have any secrets from your mother?"

"It's practically criminal," Shields told Shepard. "It's not journalism."

Shepard agreed and called it "maddening."

The ad campaign in which a teen Shields asked "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing," catapulted her modeling career and stirred controversy.

"I was naive, I didn't think anything of it," Shields recalled. "I didn't think it had to do with underwear. I didn't think it was sexual in nature. I'd say that about my sister, nobody could come between me and my sister."

"If they had intended on the double entendre, they didn't explain it to me," she added. "It didn't faze me. It didn't sort of come into my psyche as it being anything overtly sexual, sexualized in any way."

Since that interview with Walters, Shields has been photographed numerous times with the journalist, who is now 92 and retired from public life.

CNN has reached out to Shields' representative for comment as to whether she ever told Walters the interview upset her.

Shopping Trends

The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Trudeau, Carney push back over Trump's ongoing 51st state comments

Two senior members of the federal cabinet were in Florida Friday pushing Canada's new $1.3 billion border plan with members of Donald Trump's transition team, a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself appeared to finally push back at the president-elect over his social media posts about turning Canada into the 51st state.

Physical therapy is 'the best-kept secret in health care'

If you think physical therapy is only about rehabilitation after surgery or recovering from an accident, think again. For the vast majority, seeing a physical therapist should be about prevention, routine assessment and staying well.

Local Spotlight

Stay Connected