Brooke Shields: Barbara Walters analyzing my body on TV was ‘unconscionable’
Brooke Shields condemned the late Barbara Walters again over their infamous 1981 interview.
The “Blue Lagoon” star, 57, recalled on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” Wednesday how she felt when the legendary journalist asked about her body during their sit-down when she was just 15 years old.
“The way the press treated us and what was acceptable, whether it’s asking me my measurements on nationwide television, asking me to stand up — Barbara Walters did that and compared herself to me — and just the sort of approach that they had in asking me questions as a [teen] was really just unconscionable,” she said.
Kelly Clarkson said in response that that line of questioning “stirs rage” in her.
Shields said it “breaks” her heart to “see that little girl” when she watches it again.
During the interview, Walters told the “Pretty Baby” star, “I think when people see you, they don’t realize how tall and slim you are. Let me stand up with you because I’m 5-5 and I’m wearing high heels.”
The former “The View” co-host then joked with Shields’ mom, Teri Shields, who was present, “It’s very hard when you have a little kid this high to keep her down to size, isn’t it?”
Brooke then chuckled and said her father was “really tall, too,” and stood at 6-7.
The “Suddenly Susan” alum previously opened up about what she was thinking in that moment.
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In November 2022, Brooke shared on “The Drew Barrymore Show” that she thought to herself during the interview, “‘This isn’t right. I don’t understand what this is.’
“But I just behaved and just smiled,” she added, also acknowledging that she “felt so taken advantage of in so many ways.”
Brooke also called Walters’ interview “criminal” and her tactics “maddening” in December 2021.
She recalled that interviewers at the time “never wanted my answer,” explaining, “They just wanted their point of view.”
Walters, who died in December 2022 at age 93, does not appear to have addressed the backlash. She and Brooke were photographed together on numerous occasions years after their interview.
