Brooke Shields says friends are 'surprised' she is not a 'train wreck' (2024)

Brooke Shields revealed that her loved ones are always'surprised' that she did not become 'a total train wreck' following her traumatic childhood and upbringing.

While reflecting on how she avoids being defined by her looks, the actress, who turned 59 last week, explained she always viewed her modeling career as 'a job' that 'paid the bills.'

'It paid our bills,' she recalled on TODAY, referring to her time as the principal breadwinner in her home as a former child model. 'I had this very strange, compartmentalized way of living through it, you know? And just learned that I was so much more than that.'

The mother-of-two explained that she made the choice to attend Princeton, not to 'prove' anything to people, but to have 'something that could never be taken away' from her.

She continued: 'I I knew enough to create a life for myself.'

Still, she friends and family are 'always amazed that' she's 'normal.'

'It's very strange. I have a friend who says, "I am surprised you are not in rehab or a total train wreck," the supermodel admitted to hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager.

Shields credits her 'family and friends and school' for keeping her on the right path during the turbulent time in her life.

'But that's where I am entering this era of my life with positivity because it is on my terms for the first time really,' she explained.

Shields went on to talk about her new hair care line, Commence, which was created specially for women over 40.

On Tuesday, the bombshell also explained that she and her brand were on a mission to tackle problems like hair loss and 'changes' in your hair as you age when creating the formulas.

She told People that Commence's three hero products 'address hair scalp health from the root all the way to the tip to really understand what's happening to hinder growth.'

While noting how after 40, a lot of, women struggle with 'dry' hair, Shields pointed out that nobody 'wants to hear [that word in relation to] any part of her body.'

Shields first started modeling when she was just 11 months old when she appeared in an ad for the brand Ivory Soap.

She went on to become one of the most successful child models of all time, starring in a slew of campaigns for enormous companies like Gerber, Calvin Klein, and Vogue - and she soon expanded her career by stepping into the world of acting.

But the actress famously posed nude for Playboy when she was only 10 years old, and starred as a child prostitute in the 1978 movie Pretty Baby when she was 11.

While filming the flick, Brooke was forced to kiss her costar, Keith Carradine, then 27.

She spoke out against her mother - who was a model and actress herself and served as Brooke's manager for many years - for allowing her to be exposed to so much at a young age and for not helping her when she was put in inappropriate situations last year in the Hulu documentary about her life, entitled Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.

While chatting with The Sunday Times, Shields stated that she is not 'angry' with her late mother, Teri, but instead, she feels 'sad' for her.

In her 2014 memoir, There Was A Little Girl: The Real Story Of My Mother And Me, Brooke spoke further about her relationship with Teri, who became an alcoholic when the star was just an infant after her father, Frank, left them.

In the book, Brooke explained that because her mom was the only person she had, their bond became 'so intense.'

'I thought she was God, I thought she could change the weather. It was us against the world,' she wrote.

'It's so innate when you're an only child of a single mother,' she added to The Times. 'All you want to do is love your parent and keep them alive forever, and so I wanted to protect her.

'And by virtue of protecting her, I was justifying everything, and that solidified that bond between us.'