Brooke Shields confronted Barbara Walters over her “practically criminal” interview in the 1980s. During a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s podcast, “The Armchair Expert,” Shields talked about the interview.
She recalled how the media sexualized her as a young adolescent. Shields modeled Calvin Klein jeans in an ad at the age of 15.
In a commercial, Shields stated, “You want to know what stands between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” The ad drew criticism at the time.
After the airing of the ad campaign, Shields was a part of an interview with Walters at just 15. She was asked many invasive questions by Walters, according to People Magazine.
Walters directed asked Shields about her measurements. Shepard referred to the interview with Walters as “annoying” during his podcast.
“It’s absolutely criminal,” Shields added. “It’s not legitimate journalism.”
In fact, Shepard stated that the news media had generated “conflicting storylines” about Shields at the time.
According to Shepard, the media characterized Shields as “overtly sexual…a sexual tigress,” although they also said she was “naive” and “being taken advantage of.”
“They couldn’t figure out what they wanted to say about you,” Shepard added.
“They were furious with themselves for not seeing it, and they took their anger out on me,” said Shields.
Earlier, Shields also shared her views about the Calvin Klein ad campaign while being interviewed with Vogue.