Brooke Shields Reveals Why She Thinks Her Late Mother Was ‘In Love’ With Her

The former child star Brooke Shields is opening up about the complicated relationship that she had with her late mother Teri as she continues to promote her new Hulu documentary “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.”

While being interviewed by her fellow former child star Drew Barrymore this week, Shields shockingly revealed that she believes Teri was “in love” with her.

‘She Was In Love With Me’

Shields made this revelation after Barrymore dropped the bomb that her mother Jaid slept with her boyfriends when she was younger. When asked if Teri had done the same thing, Shields replied, “No, ‘cause she was in love with me. I was her main focus.”

“And both of us were going to be cut off from our sexuality; I was gonna stay a virgin, she was going to be just Teri Terrific and being there,” she continued.

“I think my mom might have been so enamored with me that she actually wanted to be with the people I was with,” Barrymore confessed, to which Shields replied, “I don’t get it, but I get it. It’s so layered and it’s so needy and it’s so sad and broken.”

Shields went on to talk about how controlling Teri was, citing how her mother was known to sit in on interviews with her as she grew up in front of the camera.

“It was, ‘No one’s gonna get you, I’m gonna – I’m gonna be there. I’m there first. You’re mine. I’m not gonna give you to somebody,'” she explained.

Shields added that though Teri did this “under the guise of protection,” she now believes that “it was more ownership and fear.”

Related: Dean Cain Gets Apology From Brooke Shields For Not Making Their College Relationship ‘Easy’

‘It Was All I Knew’

While Shields can understand the complexities of the relationship with her mother now, at the time, it was all she knew.

“It was all I knew. You know what I mean,” she said. “But we got stuff. It’s like I did a movie and we got a car. All I knew was, keep my mother alive, keep dancing, and get stuff.”

Pointing to Barrymore’s heart, Shields stated, “But to emerge from it, not angry or jaded, is in there.”

“It’s something in your character, it’s in my character. Doing this documentary, um – it’s given me a life in the most interesting way,” she continued. “It’s about a bigger story. And it’s about a female story and a female journey. And finding your voice. And finding your agency, whenever it is.”

Teri died in 2012 at the age of 79 from a dementia-related illness, according to Fox News. Check out Shields’ full comments on her mother in the video below.

Related: Brooke Shields Reveals Why She Refused To Sleep With JFK Jr.

Barrymore’s Relationship With Her Mother

Meanwhile, Barrymore’s mother Jaid is still alive at 76 years of age, and their relationship appears to remain complicated to this day.

“I will always support her,” Barrymore told People Magazine in December of last year. “I can’t turn my back on the person who gave me my life. I can’t do it. It would hurt me so much. I would find it so cruel. But there are times where I’ve realized that our chemistry and behavior will drum up a feeling in me where I have to say, ‘Okay, I need a break again.'”

Barrymore went on to say that she and her mother have established “a lot of boundaries,” adding, “And we’ve taken many pauses in our lives. Healthy pauses, I’m like, friends need to do it, life-longers need to do it, this is where we’re at.”

Relationships between mothers and daughters are already complicated enough even without Hollywood getting involved, so while Shields and Barrymore’s respective relationships with their moms are tragic, they sadly aren’t surprising. In the end, this should be a cautionary tale to other parents who are considering getting their children involved in Hollywood at young ages!