After a “Pretty Baby” publicity glut in the ’70s and ’80s, Brooke Shields virtually disappeared from the public eye.
There were a few movie fiascos-remember “Brenda Starr?”-a few dates with Michael Jackson. A Princeton degree. “The Brooke Book.” Then nothing.
Now she’s back, with a new image (along with Isabella Rossellini, she’s a spokesmodel for Italian designers Dolce & Gabbana’s spring ad campaign) and a new career as a Broadway diva, singing, dancing and acting as Rizzo in the revival of the ’50s musical “Grease.”
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But getting from the “Blue Lagoon” to the Great White Way meant taking time out for voice lessons and introspection-away from the tabloids and paparazzi.
“It’s hard for anyone to grow into the woman that they have inside them,” says Shields, now 29, who debuted on Broadway last November. “But being in the public eye, (whether you’re) growing up or not, it’s difficult. I needed time to nurture my own thoughts and have some of the changes that were happening settle in for a while.”
Still, says Shields, her hiatus wasn’t exactly planned: “It’s not a premeditated thing where you plan and say, `I’m going to hide.’ In retrospect I can look back and see that it was a period of introspection. But when I was in it, that’s just where I was.”