Longtime LGBTQ ally and HIV/AIDS activist Brooke Shields is opening up about the time she was interviewed by iconic journalist Barbara Walters when she was still a teenager and how actually deeply f*cked up the whole thing was.
Related: The View’s Sherri Shepherd on her antigay past, pay discrimination, and mean girl Barbara Walters
In an appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Shields talked about shooting a series of Calvin Klein commercials when she was 15 and delivering various one-liners, including, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.”
That line in particular caused an uproar in America, prompting Calvin Klein to send Shields who, again, was just 15 years old, out on the media circuit to try to clean up the mess.
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As part of her media blitz, Shields was interviewed by none other than Walters, who asked the teenager several invasive questions about her body measurements and whether she kept any “secrets” (read: sexual activity) from her mother.
When asked about the interview by Shepard, Shields called the whole thing “practically criminal” and “not journalism.” She added that none of the reporters she spoke to during that time, including Walters, “wanted my answer. They just wanted their point of view.”
Related: Ricky Martin still has PTSD from that time Barbara Walters tried outing him during 2000 interview
Shields previously spoke about the Calvin Klein backlash to Vogue in October, saying she was too “naive” to understand the risqué nature of what she was doing at time and that she didn’t understand the double entendre of the campaign’s tagline.
“I didn’t think it had to do with underwear,” she explained. “I didn’t think it was sexual in nature. I’d say that about my sister. Nobody could come between me and my sister.”
Shields isn’t the first person to bring up problematic moments with Walters. In June, singer Ricky Martin recounted the time she tried outing him on camera during a 2000 interview and how it left him feeling “violated.”
“When she dropped the question, I felt violated because I was just not ready to come out,“ he told People. “I was very afraid. You can’t force someone to come out.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH6IpkZz2Cg
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
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Mister P
I never thought Walters was a good interviewer.
johncp56
she was a good interviewer but got away asking anything, there are limits in those days we could still get killed fired family she was wrong, where is she now
Openminded
John, I assume you are asking where Walters is now. Unfortunately she got away with her questions while she continued building her career up until the time she was ready to retire. In short, she got away with being heartless with her interviews. Some would say that’s what a good interviewer does. She has to live with the hurt she’s inflicted.
Cato
Walters dated the war criminal Henry Kissinger. She’s a deplorable person.
tykin88
Barbara Walters, and Diane sawyer are TERRIBLE interviewers. Barbara is unquestionably a pioneer, but a horrible interviewer that asked the most inane, insulting questions.
Man About Town
I agree. I remember when Diane was interviewing Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley and she said to Michael “You’re not going to sleep with any more children, are you? ” which made her hope to look like she was doing the world a tremendous favor and preventing further child molestation cases.
Paulie P
Babs often did go there and a few celebs pushed back. She thought she was the best, she wasn’t. I recall that Ricky interview and I wanted to slap the television.
As for where is she now, I believe lost in her own mind. Since she retired she’s never been seen.
Chrisk
Yes that’s what usually happens in retirement.
1898
so barbara walters gets all the blame and no one says a word about calvin klein putting shields in that position in the first place?
Fahd
Never been a fan of gangster-daughter Barbara, but just like every person who is a creature of his/her time, I don’t believe in judging her by today’s standards. That doesn’t mean that we cannot sympathize with celebrities who in furthering their public personas had to put up with her or that we cannot learn from her mistakes.
As for Walters’ current circumstances, I had heard that she has severe dementia and is cared for in her residence which she doesn’t leave (see Ronald Reagan).
Sqwoah
She’s an old lady from a different time who was playing by the rules of the day.
Brook Shields….for being ever so victimized, got a life of fame and fortune. Everybody needs to calm down.
Michael1500
Barbara Walters was the typical journalist in the sense that she had to get into unpopular areas with the people she interviewed. But Walters went over and above the journalist”s “call of duty” by being (at her core) a mean, ice cold bitch. Her ambition knew no bounds—- what responsible person, even journalist, would seriously interview an immature 15 year old girl? They didn’t come any more ambitious and ruthless than Miss Lisp with her tactless questions. The hateful harridan was parodied constantly—— but not enough.