Brooke Shields: I was ‘taken advantage of’ in controversial Barbara Walters interview
By Bernie ZilioNovember 21, 2022 | 10:21pm
Brooke Shields felt she was “taken advantage of” as a young teenager when she was grilled by Barbara Walters.

Recalling “the fiasco” on Tuesday’s episode of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” the world-famous actress and model said she felt the legendary broadcaster was after a “negative soundbite” during their controversial sit-down, which took place in 1981 on the heels of Shields’ famous Calvin Klein jeans campaign.

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“But I just behaved and just smiled,” she said, acknowledging that she “felt so taken advantage of in so many ways.”

In fact, Shields once referred to her interview with Walters as “practically criminal” and “not journalism.”

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Brooke Shields reflected on her 1981 Barbara Walters interview, saying she felt "taken advantage of."
Instagram/brookeshields

“But then you learn to say no,” she explained, bringing up another unsettling sit-down she did when she was around “10 or something.”

“This woman asked the same question repeatedly,” the model said, clarifying that this interviewer was not Walters.

Shields, 57, “finally” then told the unnamed interviewer, “I don’t think you wanna know my answer because you keep asking me the same question, and this is my answer but I can’t change it because it’s my truth.”

Barbara Walters and Brooke Shields
“She asked me what my measurements were and asked me to stand up,” Shields, who was 15 at the time, said.
WireImage
Barrymore, 47, shared her own unpleasant Walters story but prefaced it by saying that she loves, admires and looks up to the “View” creator.

“I never thought of Barbara Walters in a negative light, nor do I,” the actress insisted as Shields “absolutely” agreed.

Barbara Walters and Brooke Shields
Shields previously called the sit-down “practically criminal” and “not journalism.”
Mike Coppola
Still, Barrymore did not appreciate when the television personality, 93, would ask what she felt were invasive questions.

“She was like, ‘Talk to me about the drugs and alcohol, talk to me about your mother, talk to me about bisexuality, talk to me about everything,'” she claimed.

“And I kept saying, ‘You know, Barbara, I’m really doing well,’ and it was five, six, seven times over



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