All About Brooke Shields' Late Parents, Teri and Frank Shields

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Frankie Ziths/AP/Shutterstock

Get to knowBrooke Shields' parents.

The actress and model was born to Teri and Frank Shields in Manhattan, New York on May 31, 1965.

Although her parents split when she was only a few months old, Brooke shared a close yet different bond with each.

“That made me look at what kind of person I am and to give myself a little credit,“Shields toldThe Sunday Timesof making the documentary. “I had to contend with so much at such an early age, and there was resilience, but also I put on blinders as a defense mechanism. But now I can look at that little girl and think, ‘She did it, she pulled through.'”

Despite how critics often viewed Teri’s complicated relationship with her daughter, Brooke always said their bond was much deeper than many could understand. As she said in a statement following her mother’s death in 2012,“My mother was an enormous part of my life and of who I am today.”

“I loved her, laughed with her, and respected her,” she said at the time. “And although she had her share of struggles, she was my mom.” Terri died at the age of 79 after a long illness with dementia. Her father,Frank, died in 2003 from prostate cancer.

Here’s everything to know about Brooke’s late parents and what she has said about them.

They weren’t married long

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Teri — née Theresa Anna Lillian Schmon — was born in Newark, New Jersey, in August 1933. Before the birth of Brooke (her only child), she worked various jobs. She was ahairstylist, a makeup artist for Lord & Taylor and a modelin her own right.

In 1964, Teri wed Frank Shields Jr. (the son of top-ranking tennis player, Frank Shields Sr.). He was a businessman who worked in marketing and sales for Revlon and Estee Lauder in New York City. He alsoformed his own real estate firm, Frank Shields Associates, in Palm Beach, Florida in 1989.

During a 2023 appearance onThe Drew Barrymore Show, Brooke told hostDrew Barrymorethather mom didn’t dateafter her divorce from Frank “because she was in love with me.”

“I was her main focus and both of us were gonna be cut off from our sexuality,” she said. “I was going to stay a virgin, she was going to be just Teri Terrific and being there. So it’s like… it’s so layered, and it’s so needy and it’s so sad and broken.”

Teri managed Brooke’s career

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Brooke’s career in the entertainment industry began when Teri booked her daughter’s first modeling gig at 11 months old for an Ivory Soap ad, which opened the gates to other ads for such brands as Band-Aid and Colgate. At age 12, Brooke landed her first big acting job — a role that not only kickstarted her career as an actress but quickly turned her into a pop culture phenomenon.

“Never again will a movie be made like that,“Shields said ofThe Blue Lagoonduring an iHeartRadio interview. “It wouldn’t be allowed.” (Brooke was a young teen in the aforementioned films, of which both featured sexual content, nudity and a significant age difference between leads).

Teri — who managed Brooke’s career until the actress was in her 20s — was at times accused of exploiting her child and taking advantage of her daughter’s striking looks.

“They see total innocence, which is totally there,” Teri toldtelevision interviewer Bill Boggs, as Brooke sat beside her. “And two, they have the sexy child too, they have the sexy person — that appeals to them.”

Teri and Brooke’s relationship had its ups and downs

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Despite the opinions the public had about Teri’s “momager” role throughout her daughter’s childhood, Brookefelt protective of her mom and defended heractions. “It’s so innate when you’re an only child of a single mother,” Brooke toldThe Sunday Timesin a March 2023 interview.

TitledThere Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me, the memoir was published in 2014 and shared the story of Teri’s long struggles with alcohol and her daughter’s long-held desire for her to quit.

The actress added, “She wasn’t present. I knew who she was capable of being because it was in there… I feel sad that she’s missing out on this. She’s probably looking down saying, ‘I didn’t get enough screen time.”

Brooke also wrote about her mother’s alcoholism in her memoirBrooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, which was released in January 2025. She called it a “constant source of agony” for her.

Frank served as an escape for Brooke

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Although Brooke spent the majority of her childhood with her mother, she maintained a strong bond with her father.

“My dad was just in absolute denial about it,” Brooke told the outlet of the massive fame she had amassed as a teenager. “And that made me adamant about turning out OK, so that he would be proud of me.” (Brooke was a diligent student throughout high school and graduated from Princeton University in 1987.)

Frank remarried after his divorce from Teri

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Teri was Frank’s first marriage, but he remarried after they divorced in 1966, tying the knot with Diana “Didi” Lippert in 1970.

They had three kids together, daughters Marina, Olympia and Christina. Frank was also the stepfather to Diana Auchincloss Cunningham and Thomas Gore Auchincloss, from Diana’s previous marriage.

While he was born in New York and spent most of his life there, Frank ultimately relocated to Florida. The sport of crew was a major part of his life, having beenthe captain of the heavyweight crew teamfor the University of Pennsylvania.

source: people.com