OCTOBER 1 2008
AMERICANWAY 57
But let’splay catch-upanyway.
Having worked as a childmodel practi-
cally since infancy, Shields broke into the
public consciousness at the age of 12, play-
ing a childprostitute in
PrettyBaby
, which
premieredamidaccusationsof childexploi-
tation and pornography. Two years later,
in 1980, she wasmooredwithChristopher
Atkins in
The Blue Lagoon
and became ev-
ery teenage boy’s fantasy. That same year,
she refused to let anything come between
her and her Calvins in an infamous Calvin
Klein ad campaign.
Endless Love
, a film
about teenage obsession, quickly followed
that, but by 1983, Shieldswas ready to take
abreak fromHollywood. So she enrolled at
PrincetonUniversity,where she studied ev-
erything fromFrench literature topottery.
College proved a haven for her, and
jumping back into the fickle arms of Hol-
lywood wasn’t easy. Despite her previous
success, the former
Vogue
covermodel was
offered less-than-stellar parts. Eventually,
she headed to Broadway, where she blew
the lights off the boardswithher able voice
and skillful dancing in musicals such as
Grease
and
Chicago
, surprising critics with
her talent. Finally, in 1996, she earned ahit
TV show, the comedy
SuddenlySusan
. But
after only four seasons, Shields was once
again out of work. And once again, she put
her head down, reassessed her situation,
andplowedahead.
Along theway, shemarried anddivorced
Andre Agassi and then met and married
Henchy, withwhom she has the two afore-
mentioned daughters. And now, it seems
that all roads have led here — to content-
ment, security, wisdom, and success in a
business asfickleas they come.
struggling to stay in the game, Shields is
back on the Hollywood A-list with the hit
NBC show
Lipstick Jungle
, which is based
on the best-selling novel of the same name
by Candace Bushnell. She’s also ventured
into the literary world, having recently re-
leased her second book,
Welcome to Your
World, Baby
. Shields’spersonal life is thriv-
ingaswell:Her seven-yearmarriage topro-
ducerChrisHenchyhasprovideda stability
that stardomnever could, andherkidshelp
her keep a healthy perspective on life, har-
riedas the ridemaybe.
“This really is the Gemini in me,” she
says. “Iwas always theonedoingmyhome-
work in the back of the car. If anything, I
don’t knowhow to stop and relax. That has
been thebiggest lesson thekidshave taught
me. The 10minutes of not doingmy e-mail
ororganizingmy closet but just sittingwith
thembefore the car picksme up… I am all
of a sudden appreciating themoment with
them, and it is rejuvenating tome.”
Would shehave been the sameparent 10
years ago that she is today? “No,” Shields
says without hesitation. “I had a lot of
growing up I needed to do before I could
just allow them to be who they are instead
of trying tocontrol them.ControlwashowI
survived. I knewnothing less than that.”
That Shields is now content to let her
children thrive on their own might also
be because she spent so much of her own
childhood under the watchful eyes of ev-
eryone from directors to agents to her own
mother — rumored to have been a stage
parent who would give Joe Simpson a run
for hismoney. If you’ve at all kept upwith
pop culture for the past, oh, 30 years or so,
much of Shields’s story is already familiar.
“The truth is that Ihave
neverwrittenmyselfoff,
and I think that is themost
importantpieceof the
wholepuzzle. Ineverallow
myself tobestopped.”
