Our Miss Brooke

Brooke Shields finally makes 30

Brooke Shields is 30, but for GEORGE WAYNE she'll always be a Pretty Baby.

fill H George Wayne:Brooke, what have you been up to these days?

Brooke Shields: I've been incredibly busy. I just came back from Sundance. It was my first time H there. I was there promoting this film where I appear as Kiefer Sutherland's wife. It's called Freeway—a disturbing story about a child psychologist who has a double life.

G.W.So your first year as a thirtysomething has been going fabulously.

B.S. I've been lucky. I eased into it with grace. . . .

G.W.And elan—such elan! You have always had elan ever since you emerged. Even from those years when you were celebrated as America's most famous virgin. Was it a relief to just finally lose it?

B.S. Whenever you shed one of the labels that have been inadvertently pressed onto you, I think it's a relief.

G.W.Now, your stage mother, Teri Shields, pushed you before the camera as early as two years old. Do you feel like you've had a lost childhood?

B.S. No. Having gone to regular, conventional schools my whole life, as well as Princeton, I have never put the career first, even though it was the most celebrated part of my life.

G.W.Are you still estranged from your mother?

B.S. That was made much more dramatic in the press than it was in reality. Professionally, it was a very simple one-day decision. My mom and I are still mother and daughter, trying to work on what that is. But we're definitely not estranged.

G.W.The critic Frank Rich has called you a natural actress—yet Hollywood fails to give you any respect. Why do you think that is?

B.S. To be honest, I'm sure Frank has said bad things about me, too. j I feel respected much more now / f than I've ever felt. I think I understand the confusion. Am I a model? Or am I in film? Or am I an advertisement for a

certain product or company? The message that has been given is so diversified.

G.W. You 're so smart, Brooke!

B.S. Well, I appreciate that.

G.W.Were you as shocked as we all were when Andre Agassi shaved his long hair, and we realized it was really to camouflage the fact that he was going bald?

B.S. Oh God. No. I was thrilled. You can see his face, you can see his eyes more.

G.W.And how are things going between you and Andre, Brooke darling?

B.S. It's been two years.

G.W.Two years already?! Time really flies when you 're happy. B.S. It has been and continues to be such an important part of my life. It's like nothing I have ever been able to experience before.

G.W.All right, Brooke darling. Explain to G. W. the nittygritty of your friendship with Michael Jackson. Talk about those strange days with the Gloved One. Was it a genuine friendship?

G.W.And to think people said he paid you to go on dates with him!

B.S. Like that's the kind of person I am. That's ridiculous.

G.W.And how did you find the company of John F. Kennedy Jr. ?

B.S. Brief, short-lived. It was a good diary entry, that's all.

G.W.That one may have been short-lived, but Liam Neeson—didn't he give you a diamond ring?

B.S. He didn't give me a diamond ring. He said we were to be married, but I never had a diamond ring on my finger from him. G.W.Did you date Liam Neeson because of that huge reputation he is supposed to have? B.S. I wasn't aware of his reputation until after, unfortunately. I wished I had known about his reputation before. I unfortunately found out about it the hard way, and after.

G.W.You must have been left a bit bruised, I suppose. B.S. No, I think if your heart is involved, then you get bruised. I was more shell-shocked.

G.W.Brooke darling—you are still my Pretty Baby. B.S. Ooh, thank you!