Brooke Shields Says Andre Agassi Used Backhanded Compliments to Body Shame Her During Their Marriage

Mar. 15, 2025

Brooke Shields and Andre Agassi in Los Angeles in 1998.Photo:Bei/Shutterstock

Bei/Shutterstock

Brooke Shieldsis sharing a backhanded compliment then-husbandAndre Agassimade years ago, saying it made her “spin a bit" at the time.In chapter 6 of her new book,Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old,Shields, 56, looked back on how her time in the spotlight gave her body image issues.“I was very specifically told Iwas notrunway worthy, because I wasn’t skinny enough,” she wrote. “Being told you are ‘the face,’ you begin to believe that’s all you are — a face. From the neck up, I was Brooke Shields, but it was like my body existed in a different reality.”When she shared her body image concerns with tennis proAgassi, whom shemarried in 1997, he wasn’t as supportive as she’d hoped.Brooke Shields looks back on her life in her new book, “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old.".Flatiron Books/Amazon“When I would profess my insecurities to my first husband, he would always say, ‘I wish you could see yourself the way I see you,’ “ she wrote. “However when I said, ‘Will you still love me if I’m big and fat?’ (I meant once I got pregnant — an unfair question for anybody to ask another person I know!) I could never have expected his response.”Shields said that Agassi told her, “‘I love you too much to let you get big and fat!’ ““I definitely did not see that coming and must admit I started to spin a bit,” she wrote. “But we all know how that relationship turned out,” she added. (The two divorced in 1999.)Brooke Shields in New York in January 2025.George Chinsee/SHE Media via GettyShields — who sharestwo daughters,Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18, with husbandChris Henchy— writes that she’s “glad” she and Agassi never had children — but it was because of something she recalls him saying when they were splitting up: “‘Be thankful we didn’t have children,’ he said, ‘because I would not have made this easy for you.’ ”Shields will always remember that. “It would have been a disaster. When we got divorced, he made that very clear,” she wrote in chapter 7.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Brooke Shieldsis sharing a backhanded compliment then-husbandAndre Agassimade years ago, saying it made her “spin a bit” at the time.

In chapter 6 of her new book,Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old,Shields, 56, looked back on how her time in the spotlight gave her body image issues.

“I was very specifically told Iwas notrunway worthy, because I wasn’t skinny enough,” she wrote. “Being told you are ‘the face,’ you begin to believe that’s all you are — a face. From the neck up, I was Brooke Shields, but it was like my body existed in a different reality.”

When she shared her body image concerns with tennis proAgassi, whom shemarried in 1997, he wasn’t as supportive as she’d hoped.

Brooke Shields looks back on her life in her new book, “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old.".Flatiron Books/Amazon

Flatiron Books/Amazon

“When I would profess my insecurities to my first husband, he would always say, ‘I wish you could see yourself the way I see you,’ “ she wrote. “However when I said, ‘Will you still love me if I’m big and fat?’ (I meant once I got pregnant — an unfair question for anybody to ask another person I know!) I could never have expected his response.”

Shields said that Agassi told her, “‘I love you too much to let you get big and fat!’ "

“I definitely did not see that coming and must admit I started to spin a bit,” she wrote. “But we all know how that relationship turned out,” she added. (The two divorced in 1999.)

Brooke Shields in New York in January 2025.George Chinsee/SHE Media via Getty

George Chinsee/SHE Media via Getty

Shields — who sharestwo daughters,Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18, with husbandChris Henchy— writes that she’s “glad” she and Agassi never had children — but it was because of something she recalls him saying when they were splitting up: “‘Be thankful we didn’t have children,’ he said, ‘because I would not have made this easy for you.’ ”

Shields will always remember that. “It would have been a disaster. When we got divorced, he made that very clear,” she wrote in chapter 7.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

source: people.com