Dax Shepard, who does a great many things although the “wait for the stink” bathing controversy has overshadowed much of his year, recently sat down with Brooke Shields for an episode of the Armchair Expert Podcast. The end result dredged up an old controversy, about which Brooke let ‘er rip over a decades-old Barbara Walters interview. That went down in 1981, when Walters grilled Brooke, then age 15, amid backlash over those Calvin Klein jeans ads (which featured Brooke declaring, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing”).
Since that time, Brooke’s dealt with numerous other annoyances, like Donald Trump asking her out in the 1990s and Tom Cruise blasting her for taking an antidepressant in the 2000s. Decades after much of this mess, Brooke has reflected upon that Walters commercial while talking with Dax (about the sexualization of young stars), and as it turns out, Brooke doesn’t appreciate what she called the “practically criminal” way that Walters quizzed her over those commercials.
Via People, Brooke declared that “It’s not journalism” for Walters to have asked, “Brooke, what are your measurements?” And that was only the beginning of a very awkward few minutes in the below clip.
As Brooke told Dax, however (via People), “I didn’t think it had to do with underwear… didn’t think it [the ad] was sexual in nature.” She added, “What was shocking to me was to be berated by ‘oh, you knew this was happening… you were thinking these thoughts.’” As Brooke summed up, “I was a kid” and “I was naive, I didn’t think anything of it” while making those ads. As for Dax, he described the Walters interview as “maddening.” Certainly, those Calvin Klein ads were suggestive, although Walters’ followup on the controversy did nothing to help the situation.
(Via People)