This week, Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. spoke to model, actress, and author Brooke Shields at a remarkably informative women’s empowerment brunch in Kansas City that was hosted by Donna Kelce in partnership with GSK’s THRIVE@50+ campaign.
Shields reflected on her relationship with GSK, Kelce, and how her memorable appearance on the hit show ‘Friends’ after Super Bowl XXX changed her career.
“They [GSK] contacted me a while ago and asked if I wanted to be a member of this wonderful group of women to really talk about their shingles risk and the importance of being proactive and asking your doctor and pharmacist about your risk and vaccination,” Shields explained. “Many people don’t know many extraordinary facts about shingles. That’s unnerving. It can last so long, and it can be so isolating and painful, and just the importance of becoming aware and proactive. I met all these amazing women, and we’re in Kansas City now. We’re about to see the Chiefs play, which will be amazing.”
Shields, an accomplished actor, model, and author, was joined by Roselyn Sanchez, Gina Torres, Karen Clay-Fenderson, and others at the brunch event before the Chiefs’ divisional-round playoff matchup against the Houston Texans on January 18.
“I think there’s real strength and vulnerability, and when you hear the varied stories and the diversity in the stories and the women, you feel a part of a community now,” Shields continued. “You feel like you are not alone. You feel like you’re in a growing community. And there’s such strength in that, and it’s empowering because it’s positive. So it’s been, it’s been nice, and you hear all the stories, you’re just like, ‘Wow’.”
Shields has always been a strong advocate for women and chronicled her experiences and efforts to advance good causes in her recently released book, which is titled Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman.
“I came to a point where I thought, ‘I have not lived this long and done this much to be discounted or relegated to just being, you know, over the hill’, or somehow not worth that, not having the same worth I have more worth now,” Shields explained. “Because I’ve earned it, and I’ve got great people in my life. It’s only through living this long that it’s it’s rounded itself out into true longevity.
“I think it’s funny because I’m often met with this perception that people wish I looked like I did in Blue Lagoon or Calvin Klein, which was 45 years ago. It disappoints them when we don’t maintain it exactly, and that’s why so many women chase beauty and try to look younger. I always say I don’t want to look like my daughters. I’ve earned this age.”
In her book, Shields reflects on one specific experience she thought would be relatable to readers.
“I was talking to somebody at a cocktail party, and he was just talking about wine and puffing up, and, you know, I mentioned my age,” Shields continued. “The minute I mentioned my age, I was talking about wine, but I threw in my age as a correlation because I thought it would be funny, and he just changed instantly. It’s [was] like, ‘I wish you didn’t tell me that.’ I thought, ‘Wow, that’s what’s so interesting from a societal, historical, male way of it made him older.’ If I was older and you can’t find a 58-at-the-time person attractive, that’s like, you’re only supposed to find the 20-something attractive. I just thought, ‘Wow, I’ve got to put that in this book because this is not just happening to me. This is happening to women everywhere.'”
Shields is a part of Super Bowl history for her guest role on the hit television show ‘Friends‘ in 1996 after Super Bowl XXX. 52.925 million viewers tuned into the ‘Friends’ episode titled “The One After the Superbowl,“ making it the series’ most-watched episode. It still holds the record as the highest-rated Super Bowl lead-out program of all time.
“I said yes before I even knew the character,” Shields said of her ‘Friends’ experience. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to play myself. Then I heard some other actresses, like Julia Roberts, were in it, and the cast was incredible. I was such a fan of ‘Friends’. What I remember the most is being able to trust my comedic instincts and first being told to downplay my character, not to play it so crazy, and then begging them and saying, ‘Please, can I just… can I do it the way I want to do it?’ And they wouldn’t let me do it at first. Then, during the second take, the second pass, they always do things twice in each scene. They said from across the stage, ‘Shields, put it back in,‘ I remember thinking my comedic instincts were being trusted. They’re letting me do it.”
Shields’ comedic instincts that were on display in ‘Friends’ proved to be so memorable that they opened doors for her later in the 1990s with the show ‘Suddenly Susan’.
“I literally did that looking the crazy laugh thing, and I got my own show the next day,” Shields said. “Like, literally the next day, I got my own show. I’ll never forget all the guys in suits… all the executives coming in to watch it, and me thinking like, ‘God, I wonder if it’s like a tour or something,’ realizing they were all the executives and they were like scouting me, and it changed my life. I mean, I got my own show, and it was four years of some of the best times I’ve ever had creatively.”
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