Brooke Shields says she was 'envious' of Emily Ratajkowski's confidence being 'nude the whole time'

Publish date: 2024-08-12
2023-03-28T14:59:05Z

Brooke Shields has said that she was "envious" of Emily Ratajkowski's confidence in her own skin after working with the younger model on a photoshoot.

The actor and model is currently promoting "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields," a two-part documentary about the sexual fetishization she endured as a child actor, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and will be released on Hulu on April 3.

Speaking in an interview with The New Yorker, Shields was asked whether, in light of her new project, she had read Ratajkowski's book of essays, "My Body," in which the "Gone Girl" star reckons with her own objectification.

While Shields, 57, didn't share whether she had picked up the book or not, she did recall an experience where she was working alongside Ratajkowski, 31, and a handful of other people for a magazine shoot.

"It's interesting," she said. "We were in this photo shoot together, Emily and myself and three or four other people, for the anniversary of a no-makeup issue or something. And she was nude the whole time!"

Shields clarified that "it wasn't a nude photo shoot" and both had clothes on while in front of the cameras, which initially made her confused about Ratajkowski's nakedness before she realized that the model was just comfortable and confident in bearing it all.

She explained: "At first, I was, like, 'Put some clothes on!' Then this other part of me was envious of that freedom."

"I just remember thinking, 'Damn, that girl's got balls.' How cool would it be to feel that free and competent in your own body?"

Shields has been vocal about her own complicated relationship with her body after being sexualized aged 10, when she posed nude for Playboy, and then again in the movies "Pretty Baby" (1978), which she filmed when she was 12, and "The Blue Lagoon" (1980), which she filmed when she was 15. In both films, she was required to be naked on camera.

Brooke Shields in "Pretty Baby" (1978). Paramount Pictures

Elsewhere in the interview, the "Endless Love" star spoke about her time guest-starring on an episode of "Friends" in 1996, which elicited an extreme reaction from her ex-husband, Andre Agassi.

Shields played an obsessive stalker who goes on a date with Matt LeBlanc's character, Joey, after sending him fan mail for his role as a doctor on "Days of Our Lives." 

"In the scene, I'm supposed to lick Joey's fingers, because they're the hands of a genius, and I want to devour them, and I'm a nut," she told the outlet.

"Andre was in the audience supporting me, and he stormed out," Shields said. "He said, 'Everybody's making fun of me. You made a fool of me by that behavior,' I'm, like, 'It's comedy! What is the matter with you?'" Shields said.

Afterward, Shields said the former tennis No. 1, who she was married to for two years, went home and "smashed all his trophies."

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