Brooke Shields has spoken out about the loneliness she felt during her time at Princeton and how students actively avoided her on campus.
The 57-year-old Endless Love actress made the reveal during episode one of her new Hulu documentary, Handsome baby.
Brooke took a break from her successful film career in the 1980s to attend Princeton, where she majored in Romance Language and Literature, with an emphasis in French literature, and graduated with honors in 1987.
Initially, the actress, who would call her mother five times a day, said she found the transition difficult.
Brooke Shields revealed that she felt “so lonely” when she first started at Princeton
One of her friends said people were ‘zealously avoiding her’ and she even called her mother to say she wanted to go home
“It was so lonely, it was so lonely. And people tried to be so nice, just tried to give me my space,” Brooke revealed.
“And I was like, ‘I don’t want space, I want to go home or I want friends. Please don’t respect me, please don’t respect my space.’
“So I went from people rushing at me, to people completely avoiding me, and then I’d just miss my mama.” We had talked about it in interviews, that umbilical cord had never been cut.’
Brooke described how she had a preconceived idea of what college would look like.
“You saw it in movies, you had the ivy and old buildings and the arches. I wanted that experience,” she said.
“Education was about the only thing my father felt good about.”
Friend Isobel Colman said many of the students would “zealously avoid” Brooke.
“Princeton attracts a certain type and everyone has a high opinion of themselves and they say, ‘Well, I’m not going to get caught up in that circus,'” said Isobel.
The actress said that her father really appreciated her education. She studied Romance language and literature and graduated cum laude in 1987
A newspaper clipping from when Brooke began her education at the Ivy League school
Brooke also explained that in the 1980s it was unusual for a female Hollywood star to go to college, with cultural psychologist Jeffrey Alexander saying, “At the time, of course, she really broke the glass because a sex symbol isn’t going to.” to Princeton.”
She remembered calling her mother, Teri, and telling her she wanted to come home.
But Teri stood firm and told her, “Honey, you never forgive yourself. You’ll get so mad at yourself if you don’t go through with this.’
Eventually, Brooke found her footing and joined the Princeton Triangle Club, described as “the country’s oldest touring collegiate musical comedy troupe.”
“I found all the really creative guys and girls, we just wanted to do comedy and musicals, and it was fun,” she added.
At Princeton, Brooke also began to find her own voice and autonomy, and the more opposition she faced, the more resistant she became.
“The more public scrutiny and criticism I experienced, the more I thought, ‘Hell no, you can’t take this away from me,'” she said.
“It kind of turned into this big rebellion.”
It was at Princeton that Brooke began to find her own voice rather than relying on the adults around her
She joined the Princeton Triangle Club, a musical comedy troupe
The Blue Lagoon actress also spoke out about controversy surrounding her Calvin Klein ads that she filmed when she was 16
Brooke said before going to college she would wait for her mother or someone else to tell her what was important.
“Directors never asked me what I thought of a character, but I learned that I could think for myself. That’s not appealing to Hollywood either, an actress who can think for herself,” she said.
She also dated fellow actor Dean Cain during her stay in Princeton, telling how she ran out of the room “ass-naked” after losing her virginity at age 22.
In the documentary, the 57-year-old said she felt “regret” about having sex with Dean for the first time, and that he was “more comfortable with the sexual part” of their relationship than she was.
Brooke laughed as she remembered sleeping with Dean for the first time when she was a junior in college.
“When we finally had sex, I immediately ran out of the room, running down the hallway naked, just running. I didn’t know where I was going,” she said.
Brooke posed for a photo with Dean Cain in 1995. The two started dating when they were in college
“He ran after me with the duvet, grabbed me and said, ‘Where are you going?’ He said, “I’m not going anywhere, I’m not leaving you, you’re the same person.” He understood immediately and I just cried.
“I wanted to get into the personal relationship and the love and the commitment,” she said in the documentary. “We had to teach each other about each other.”
The Blue Lagoon actress also spoke out about controversy surrounding her Calvin Klein ads that she filmed when she was about 16.
In the commercial, one of several Brooke filmed with legendary photographer Richard Avedon for Calvin Klein, the then-teenager posed in jeans and said, “Want to know what comes between me and my Calvins?” Nothing.’
“I jumped at the chance because it was acting, it was just an exercise in memorization, in literary reference and I had to be smart to do it,” Brooke said in the new documentary.
“There was never anything in me that ever thought it was sexual… that’s a little naive.”
Earlier, Brooke told Vogue, “If they meant it ambiguous, they didn’t explain it to me.
‘I didn’t care. It didn’t actually enter my psyche because it was something that was overtly sexual, sexualized in any way.”