There Was a Little Girl
The Real Story of My Mother and Me
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4.0 • 235 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The perfect gift for Brooke Shields fans, There Was a Little Girl explores Brooke's relationship with her unforgettable mother, Teri, in this extraordinary, heartfelt memoir that became a New York Times bestseller.
Brooke Shields never had what anyone would consider an ordinary life. She was raised by her Newark-tough single mom, Teri, a woman who loved the world of show business and was often a media sensation all by herself. Brooke's iconic modeling career began by chance when she was only eleven months old, and Teri's skills as both Brooke's mother and her manager were formidable. But in private she was troubled and drank heavily.
As Brooke became an adult the pair made choices and sacrifices that would affect their relationship forever. And when Brooke’s own daughters were born she found that her experience as a mother was shaped in every way by the woman who raised her. But despite the many ups and downs, Brooke was by Teri’s side when she died in 2012, a loving daughter until the end.
Only Brooke knows the truth of the remarkable, difficult, complicated woman who was her mother. And now, in an honest, open memoir about her life growing up, Brooke will reveal stories and feelings that are relatable to anyone who has been a mother or daughter.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shields was prompted by the death of her mother, Teri, in 2012, at age 79, to do some defensive soul-searching about their complicated, interdependent relationship. In this conversational, limpid effort, the actress and former model traces her mother's life starting with Teri's working-class Newark, N.J., upbringing and distant parents as well as her own. As a beautiful, lively young woman working at odd jobs in New York City, Teri met and briefly married a well-connected scion of Italian aristocrats who was eight years her junior; their only child, Brooke, was born in 1965. From her first modeling job for Ivory soap as a toddler to her heyday as the poster girl for Calvin Klein, Shields, with her distinctive "European look," let her mother make decisions for her, without much thought to a "career" but with an eye to money and trips they took together. Some of those decisions were highly criticized, such as her starring at age 11 as a prostitute in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby. Shields admits to feeling "abandoned" when her mother drank, and eventually the actress found some independence by attending Princeton. Some degree of self-awareness emerges, though Shields's prose is lackluster.
Customer Reviews
Brooke
Her story was told well. Although she was a child of an alcoholic mom, her moms love did her well. This book was an interesting read.
So so sad
I wish I never read this memoir, it is so depressing. There is nothing at all uplifting about it. Throughout, Ms. Shields gives the reader every reason to despise her mother yet insists she loves her.
Why aren’t the photos of her that were taken by photographer Gary Gross when she was 10 years old even alluded to in her book?
Ms. Shield’s mom ensured that her daughter had recognition. Good for her.
Thanks Brooke
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I too am an ACOA, and the similarities are shocking. Also very comforting. I cried at the end of the book out of sadness--for you and your Mom, for me and my Mom, for all ACOA's ....
Thanks again for sharing.