There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me - Softcover

Shields, Brooke

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0147516560 ISBN 13: 9780147516565

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015

Synopsis

The perfect gift for Brooke Shields fans, There Was a Little Girl explores Brooke's relationship with her unforgettable mother, Teri, in this extraordinary, heartfelt memoir that became a New York Times bestseller. 

Brooke Shields never had what anyone would consider an ordinary life. She was raised by her Newark-tough single mom, Teri, a woman who loved the world of show business and was often a media sensation all by herself. Brooke's iconic modeling career began by chance when she was only eleven months old, and Teri's skills as both Brooke's mother and her manager were formidable. But in private she was troubled and drank heavily.

As Brooke became an adult the pair made choices and sacrifices that would affect their relationship forever. And when Brooke’s own daughters were born she found that her experience as a mother was shaped in every way by the woman who raised her. But despite the many ups and downs, Brooke was by Teri’s side when she died in 2012, a loving daughter until the end.

Only Brooke knows the truth of the remarkable, difficult, complicated woman who was her mother. And now, in an honest, open memoir about her life growing up, Brooke will reveal stories and feelings that are relatable to anyone who has been a mother or daughter.

About this title

Review

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, November 2014: In her previous memoir, Down Came the Rain, Brooke Shields described her post-partum depression so frankly and powerfully, she probably helped a lot of women, even if she did annoy fellow actor Tom Cruise, who disputed Shields’ contention that anti-depressants are helpful. The only person she might have upset with her new memoir, however, is her late mother, Teri Shields, who, on almost every page, is outed as a serious alcoholic and “a tough broad who could fight.” (Ok, onetime boyfriend, Liam Neesen doesn’t come off so great, and ex-husband Andre Agassi isn’t going to be thrilled, either—but at least Brooke was nicer to the latter than he was to her in his memoir, Open.) Still, Shields-the-daughter also praises the complicated working-class beauty she both adored and abhorred—sections about Teri fighting for her minor daughter’s rights while on the New Orleans set of “Pretty Baby” live next to suggestions that Teri might have chosen the hotel the family stayed in because of its proximity to a favorite bar. As an adult, Brooke (who as a child called legendary fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo “uncle Frankie”) rotated between estrangement from and reconciliation with her mother; today, she thinks plenty about their relationship as she and writer/producer Chris Henchy raise their two daughters. In other words, what could have been a next-generation Mommy Dearest becomes something else: a (sometimes painfully) frank account of growing up in a seriously privileged but painfully dysfunctional family and how one might possibly break such a cycle. –Sara Nelson

About the Author

BROOKE SHIELDS is an award-winning actress and a Princeton gratuate with honors in French Literature. She starred in iconic films such as Pretty Baby, The Blue Lagoon, and Endless Love. She is a renowned model and starred in the long-running TV show Suddenly Susan and the critically acclaimed Lipstick Jungle. She wrote the New York Times bestseller Down Came the Rain and also penned two childrens books. She lives in New York City with her husband, writer and producer Chris Henchy, and their two daughters.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0147516560
• ISBN 13: 9780147516565
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 448