May 29, 2025

Celebrity Birthday Week: Brooke Shields Turns 60

Show Notes
Transcript

Continue our Celebrity Birthday Week with five questions about the multifaceted career of Brooke Shields, who celebrates her 60th birthday on May 31. From her controversial early modeling to television success and beyond, explore the life and work of this enduring star. Get all our episodes commercial-free at caloroga.com/plus.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:10.320
Callaroga Shark Media. Greetings, Trivia fans, I'm Mark Allison and

2
00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:14.439
Celebrity Birthday Week continues as we celebrate Brooks Shields, who

3
00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:18.600
turned sixty this Saturday. Any other Gen xers feeling old?

4
00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:22.480
Question one? At what age did Brooks Shields first gain

5
00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:27.440
major attention as a child model, appearing in a controversial

6
00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:31.879
advertising campaign for Calvin Klein Jean's with the slogan nothing

7
00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:40.880
comes between Me and my Calvins. Question two? In what

8
00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:44.840
nineteen eighty film did the fourteen year old Brooks Shields

9
00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.479
play a young girl coming of age on a tropical

10
00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:56.640
island alongside Christopher Atkins. Question three? What hit NBC sitcom?

11
00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:00.840
Featured Brooks Shields as former model Susan Keene, which ran

12
00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:08.280
from nineteen ninety six to two thousand. Question four. Brooke

13
00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:11.159
Shields wrote a book about her experience with what Health

14
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.239
Condition after the birth of her first daughter in two

15
00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:20.319
thousand and three, helping to raise awareness about the issue.

16
00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:27.120
Question five. At which Ivy League University did Brooke Shields

17
00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.319
earn her bachelor's degree in nineteen eighty seven, taking a

18
00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:35.599
break from her acting career to pursue her education. We'll

19
00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:39.319
be right back with these star studded answers. After this break,

20
00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:45.159
welcome back Trivia fans, Let's reveal today's answers. Question one,

21
00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.400
At what age did Shields appear in the Calvin Klein campaign?

22
00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:54.840
Answer fifteen years old. In nineteen eighty, the teenage Shields

23
00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:59.159
sparked controversy with the provocative denim advertisements, in which she

24
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.159
famously asked, you want to know what comes between me

25
00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:08.479
and my Calvin's nothing. The campaign, shot by photographer Richard Avedon,

26
00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:13.039
was considered scandalous at the time, with some television stations

27
00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:17.400
banning the commercials. Despite the controversy, or perhaps because of it,

28
00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:22.120
the campaign helped launch Calvin Klein as a designer Jean's Powerhouse,

29
00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:26.560
and further catapulted Shields to fame. This was one of

30
00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.800
many early modeling jobs for Shields, who had begun her

31
00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:33.319
career as an infant model at just eleven months old

32
00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.919
and became the youngest model ever to appear on the

33
00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:42.199
cover of Vogue at age fourteen. Question two. In what

34
00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:46.000
nineteen eighty film did Shields play a young girl on

35
00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:51.639
a tropical island? Answer? The Blue Lagoon, directed by Randall Kleiser.

36
00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:55.719
This coming of age story featured Shields and Christopher Atkins

37
00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:59.560
as shipwrecked cousins who grow up together on a deserted island,

38
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:05.120
eventually developing romantic feelings for each other. The film was

39
00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:10.919
controversial for its depiction of adolescent sexuality and nudity, though

40
00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:14.360
Shields later revealed that she used body doubles for nude

41
00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:17.439
scenes and wore her hair glued to her body to

42
00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:22.319
preserve her modesty. Despite being critically panned, the film was

43
00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:26.840
a commercial success, grossing over fifty eight million dollars on

44
00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:30.879
a four point five million dollar budget. The controversy around

45
00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:33.400
the film added to Shields's image as a teen star

46
00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:37.759
being marketed in adult sexualized contexts, a dynamic she has

47
00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:42.680
spoken critically about in recent years. Question three What NBC

48
00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:48.479
sitcom starred Shields as Susan Keene Answer, Suddenly Susan. The

49
00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.560
show centered around Shield's character, a magazine writer who begins

50
00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:56.439
to rebuild her life after leaving her fiance at the Altar.

51
00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.000
The workplace comedy was set at a San Francisco magazine

52
00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:04.159
called The Gate and co starred Judd Nelson, Kathy Griffin,

53
00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:08.080
and Nestor Carbonel. The series ran for four seasons, with

54
00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:12.439
Shields earning two Golden Globe nominations for her performance. The

55
00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:15.840
show represented a major comeback for Shields, who had stepped

56
00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:19.040
back from acting during her college years, and it helped

57
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.519
establish her as a comedic actress after previously being known

58
00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:28.079
primarily for dramatic and controversial roles. Question four, What health

59
00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:33.399
condition did Shields write about? Answer? Postpartum depression. Following the

60
00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:36.399
birth of her daughter, Rowan in two thousand and three,

61
00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:42.120
Shields experienced severe postpartum depression, which she detailed in her

62
00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.079
two thousand and five book, Down Came the Reign My

63
00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:49.759
Journey through Postpartum Depression. The book described her struggle with

64
00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:54.120
suicidal thoughts, her difficulty bonding with her baby, and her

65
00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:59.079
eventual recovery through therapy and medication. Question five at which

66
00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:04.040
Ivy League Universe city did Shield's graduate answer? Princeton University.

67
00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:08.079
Despite her successful modeling and acting career, Shields took a

68
00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:12.319
break to pursue higher education, graduating from Princeton in nineteen

69
00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.800
eighty seven with a bachelor's degree in French literature. Her

70
00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:20.199
senior thesis was titled The Initiation from Innocence to Experience

71
00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:23.800
The pre Adolescent Adolescent Journey in the films of Louis

72
00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:28.879
mal Pretty Baby and Lacombe Lucian, Happy Birthday, Brook, see

73
00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:29.480
you tomorrow.

Celebrity Birthday Week: Brooke Shields Turns 60

Listen On

Recent Episodes