Brooke Shields was just 15 years old when she came under fire for her infamous Calvin Klein jeans campaign.
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In the 1980s ad, Brooke modeled the jeans while reciting various catchphrases, including the controversial line, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.”
Amid the backlash for the perceived sexual innuendo, Brooke was set up on a media tour, which included an interview with Barbara Walters.
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The televised interview ended up being completely inappropriate, featuring intimate questions about Brooke’s body and invasive questions about her sexual history — despite the fact that she was only 15.
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Looking back on that period, Brooke is now condemning the media for over-sexualizing her — and specifically calling out Barbara for her inappropriate questions.
On top of that, Brooke recently admitted that, at the time, she didn’t even understand the controversial innuendo and was shocked she was being “berated” by the public.
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“It just struck me as so ridiculous, the whole thing. They take the one commercial, which is a rhetorical question. I was naive; I didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t think it had to do with underwear; I didn’t think it was sexual in nature. I would say it about my sister: ‘Nobody can come between me and my sister,'” Brooke told Vogue.
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She later added, “If they had intended on the double entendre, they didn’t explain it to me. If they’d explained it to me, why? Would they have wanted me to say it differently? It didn’t phase me; it didn’t come into my sort of psyche as it being anything overtly sexual, sexualized in any way.”
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You can hear all that Brooke had to say on the Armchair Expert podcast here.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexgurley/brooke-shields-barbara-walters-interview