Brooke Shields lost her virginity at the age of 22, to actor Dean Cain

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Everybody is writing a memoir these days! Jennifer Lopez, Anjelica Huston, Lena Dunham, even Kim Kardashian’s got a book of selfies (sort of a memoir) coming out. I kind of forgot about Brooke Shields! She’s written a memoir called There Was a Little Girl, and it’s all about her childhood with her (crazy) mother, Teri Shields. Teri Shields was the original pimp-momager, you know. Teri was a lot like Drew Barrymore’s mom, pushing her daughter into fame/notoriety at a very early age. Brooke also writes about her husbands, losing her virginity (at the age of 22) and more. People Mag has some excerpts:

She’s one of the most famous faces on the planet. Ever since Brooke Shields made her acting debut at 11 months old in an Ivory Soap commercial, she has lived her entire life in the spotlight – thanks to her mother, manager and constant companion Teri Shields.

“I was her greatest creation,” says Shields, 49. “It was us against the world.”

Now the star is opening up about her mom – and a whole lot more – for the first time in her upcoming book, There Was a Little Girl, exclusively excerpted in this week’s PEOPLE cover story. It was only after Teri’s 2012 death from complications due to dementia that Shields could begin to consider writing about their tortured relationship. “Even though I understood her better than anybody else,” she admits, “I’m not sure I ever understood her fully.”

Teri, a lifelong alcoholic who often left Brooke with a neighbor when she went out drinking at night, was outrageous and controversial from the start. It was Teri who often orchestrated her young daughter’s “dates” with famous heartthrobs – and insisting she include a chapter on her virginity in her teenage memoir, making her, as Shields puts it, “the most celebrated virgin of our time.”

Shields’s book also details her famous crushes and relationships, from John F. Kennedy Jr. (they went out after he gave her a tour of Brown University) and Liam Neeson (he proposed to her without a ring) to George Michael.

Her crush on the singer, she says with a laugh, “was definitely one-sided.” She was extremely close to Michael Jackson, whom she met when she was 13. “We loved each other,” she says, but only platonically. “We just felt safe with each other.” At Princeton, she fell in love with her classmate (and future TV Superman) Dean Cain and they were, she writes, “instantly crazy about each other.” She lost her virginity to him when she was 22.

“He was incredibly and painfully patient with me regarding sex,” she writes. “I made him wait and wait and my mom kept track.”

In 1993, she met tennis star Andre Agassi through a mutual friend and they fell in love, bonding over the burden of childhood fame and overbearing parents. He helped her separate from Teri and rebuild her career, but their relationship soon developed cracks. After she made a guest appearance on Friends playing a crazed fan who flirts with Joey, Agassi got very angry. He “stormed off the set,” she writes, and “drove all the way to Vegas,” where he smashed all of his trophies in a jealous rage.

They eventually grew apart and divorced soon after Agassi confessed that he had been addicted to crystal meth during the early years of their relationship. Despite the drama, she credits him with helping her take the first steps toward independence.

But it wasn’t until she became a mom herself (to daughters, Rowan, 11, and Grier, 8, with husband Chris Henchy) that she finally wrenched free from Teri’s hold. Sadly, just as she hoped to build a healthy relationship, she began to notice her mother slipping into dementia. It was a shock, she writes: “Her brain had so long remained seemingly sharp. I was sure it would be her liver that went.”

Shields decided to write about her mother, she says, because she wants people “to see the fullness of her, the good and the bad.” When she thinks of Teri now, she most remembers how they used to laugh together “till we couldn’t breathe.” And so, when it came time to find a place to put her mom’s ashes, Brooke bought a beautiful silver urn and placed it on her marble-topped living room bar. This way, she writes, “she could remain forever close to the two most important things in her life: me and booze.”

[From People]

I remember Kathy Griffin used to include stories about Brooke and her mother in her stand-up act, because Kathy and Brooke were tight from doing Suddenly Susan together in the ‘90s. The way Kathy made it sound, Brooke had accepted that her mom was a mess a long time ago and Brooke just let her be. It’s got to be difficult though – it always sounded like Brooke was the parent in their relationship. As for Brooke losing her virginity to Dean Cain of all people… well… I suppose it could have been worse. Of course, it totally could have been BETTER though – Brooke’s “first” could have been JFK Jr.!

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Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of People.

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40 Responses to “Brooke Shields lost her virginity at the age of 22, to actor Dean Cain”

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  1. TheCountess says:

    I like Brooke. I’m actually relieved to hear she lost her virginity consensually given that she grew up in an industry with a bad reputation for not keeping their hands off children.

  2. Sayrah says:

    I might have to pick up a copy of that one. She was such a beauty and still is. She’s had an interesting life and yes, Dean Cain is nothing to be ashamed of.

  3. Dorothy#1 says:

    I like her! She still looks so amazing. Dean used to be super super hot.

  4. Brionne says:

    She’s 50. Why do I need to know about her quarter century ago virginity? Everyone already knew it was nit Michael Jackson….or was it?

  5. doofus says:

    too bad Cain turned out to be a Fox-news contributing wack-job.

    I remember seeing Brooke on the street when she was studying at Princeton and was BLOWN AWAY at how gorgeous (and TALL!) she was in person.

    on a different but slightly related note, Agassi used to frequent a bar that was very popular with the college kids where I went to school and I ran into him once…this was during his mullet days and G-d DAMN even with that mullet he was smoking hot. he apparently loved to hit on and take home college women.

  6. Ginger says:

    You had me at Liam Neeson! Now I’m going to have to read it 🙂

    • Jayna says:

      Me too. LOL

      I still can’t get over reading Janice Dickinson’s excerpt to her book at how broken-hearted Liam was over Julia Roberts breaking up with him and how Janice said that’s all he wanted to talk about at dinner. Of course, he did still go back to the hotel and bang her. LOL Typical man.

  7. Birdix says:

    I remember the girl Dean dumped for Brooke–broke her heart and sent her spiraling downward to a dark place. (She’s fine and happy now but it was a long road.) I wonder how this feels to her.

    • ORLY says:

      Well, people break up all the time. Hopefully she’s over it and feels apathetic about it now.

    • Jayna says:

      This many years later, probably about how I feel about my first boyfriend in college who dumped me and sent me to a very dark and scary place, practically suicidal, but a definite nervous breakdown that had my family frightened for me. I can’t remember even being so in love with him now once you’ve moved on and fallen madly in love with another man or two and are now happy in a grown-up relationship. I don’t even recognize myself back at 19, 20. So if I read something about him and the girl he dumped me for, it would seem like a lifetime ago and a different person.

  8. SamiHami says:

    Liam Neeson proposed? And she’s not married to him right now? She’s nuts. I’d jump all over that offer in a skinny minute!

    • Jayna says:

      Well, there was no ring. It was probably in the heat of passion and never followed through with a legitimate proposal.

    • Singtress says:

      The article snippet I read said that he proposed (without a ring) then was away for a while…and just kinda vanished. Never called her again.

      Can we talk about how big Liam’s…uh….appendage is supposed to be, now?

  9. Talie says:

    Dean wouldn’t have been a bad choice at that time. I know this is old news though… I’ve heard it a lot. I think he discussed in his book.

  10. Annie says:

    In many countries, losing it in your twenties is most common. I don’t know why Americans make such a fuss about it like it’s somehow embarrassing or weird. It’s the perfect age, if you think about it. You know yourself more, you’ve probably gone out with more people before, your were likely not pressured, you take care of yourself a bit better, you know what you want, you’re less likely to regret it because you’re careful of who you chose, you feel more comfortable in your body.

    Teenagers are less likely to use protection, and they also risk not having a good first sexual experience because they usually feel pressured by peers or bfs. We also have so many insecurities and body issues as teens. Teens also risk being teen moms! My country has so many of those. It’s ridiculous. I think it’s the country with most teen moms :/

  11. LAK says:

    I thought losing her virginity to Dean Cain was old news. I think she already told us. Or maybe he did?

    Somebody definitely told the world a very long time ago.

    • Christin says:

      That’s what I thought, too. Seems like it was reported years ago, when he was still somewhat a hot commodity (during or shortly after his TV Superman days).

  12. Penelope says:

    IMO, Dean Cain > JFK Jr.

    Love Brooke–she is remarkably sane and grounded all things considered.

  13. Maya says:

    Since everyone is writing about their memoirs I might as well write one of my own.

    I lost my celeb reading virginity to Celebitchy. This is the first and only website I read celeb gossip and boy did it open my eyes to the wonders of the celeb world…

  14. Lex says:

    People’s fascination with ‘virginity’ and the precise moment it is gone is so gross. I wish it would fade away…
    I remember some girls in high school who were lesbians being distressed about being “”technically”” still a virgin… as if the only determiner is when a P enters something. Then there are the men or women who think because they didn’t do one specific thing they’re still a virgin but do oral an@l etc without hesitation. They seem to aggressively insist they’re virgins too… erghhh

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      Yeah, it’s dumb. I have a friend who says, “why do people think you “”become a woman” when you have intercourse? Is there something magical about uttering the words, ‘that was it?'” Lol

  15. Christin says:

    Sometimes I suspect celebrities of exaggerating or glossing over certain things in their memoirs. However, I do remember how her mother was portrayed as a controlling stage parent so many years ago. I also remember Brooke being escorted by MJ, and how it seemed she had a genuine affection for him.

    Since Brooke is writing this while in her 40s, she can recycle the material with a new version 20 or 30 years from now. That appears to be what Sophia and other older celebrities have been doing. I read Sophia’s autobiography in the 1980s, and her newest one appears to be very similar.

  16. OTHER RENEE says:

    I love Brooke. She’s the originator of the power eyebrows. (Side eye at Cara D…)

  17. Singer says:

    I’m not exactly sure why Brooke appeals so much to me. It’s not like we haven’t heard some of what she says before, you know? We’ve read about crazy and controlling parents, fame-whoring parents, ‘glamorous’ romances, drug and jealousy driven marriages, dances with mental illness/depression, and turning your life around. But what about it when Brooke talks about it seems so *real* and *honest*? We don’t second guess her or over analyse it, we accept her fully. And I wonder why. I like it, but still wonder…

  18. Bibi says:

    Brooke is sooo beautiful and used to be so cute as a teenager. I always wondered how could she be sooo pretty. Even though her mother wasn’t perfect seems like she tried to keep her away of danger. Somehow I still think of some similarities between Brooke’s mom and Kris Jenner. And a beautiful thing is that Brooke hasn’t kept her own children away from limelight.

  19. Bibi says:

    SORRY! I MEANT to say is a beautiful thing that Brooke HAS kept her children away from limelight.

    ——>crazy autocorrect I do NOT like it.

  20. AtlLady says:

    Virginity – reminds me of the line that Penny had in The Big Bang Theory when she bought Leonard and Sheldon mint-in-box Star Trek Transporter toys and was disappointed that neither guy would open the box to play with the toys. The boys kept saying, “But it is mint-in-box!” and Penny saying her mother had used the same line about her virginity. “Taking it out of the box to play with it was much more fun!” Virginity is not something to give up lightly but it is a wonderful thing to give up when you find the right guy.

  21. Kori says:

    Brooke’s paternal side is an interesting one. She is actually related to King Felipe of Spain as well as Princess Sibylla of Luxembourg. Her father Frank Shields was the son of Francis Shields and Princess Marina Torlonia, daughter of Marino Torlonia, 4th Principe di Civitella-Cesi and American heiress Mary Elsie Moore. Marina Torlonia’s brother Alessandro married Infanta Beatriz of Spain, aunt of King Juan Carlos (Felipe’s father). Beatriz & Torlonia’s granddaughter is Princess Sibylla of Luxembourg. Interestingly, Brooke’s great-grandmother Mary Elsie Moore was also the great-aunt of Glenn Close. I wonder if there’s any relationship between Brooke and either of the royal families or Glenn Close and if it’s covered in the book at all.

  22. moo says:

    i didn’t know there was another ‘moo’.

    but i like brook shields. always have.

  23. Bat says:

    I think she talked about her virginity and Dean Cain a long time ago. She’s hope for those child stars with overbearing parents out there. Go to college. Get independent. Don’t know much else about her but she seems to be pretty smart and I liked how she came out against Tom Cruise’s (crazy) rant about prescription drugs and post-natal depression.

    Didn’t know she dated Liam Neeson. Oh, yes, and Dean Cane used to be considered a heart throb. That was when Teri Hatcher was still plastic surgery free.

  24. Layla says:

    I loved Brooke as a little kid growing up in the 80s because: brown-haired Brooke Shields Barbie. ‘Nuff said.

  25. stanhope says:

    Given all that could have happened to her and did happen to some less famous than her, she turned out astonishingly well. She comes across likable and well grounded. It would have been easy for her to be a self absorbed cow but she is not. Good for her.