The star of Acorn TV’s 'You’re Killing Me' is embracing the “freedom” of her new era

On the first day of wardrobe fittings for her new series You’re Killing Me, Brooke Shields learned that her costar Amalia Williamson had just gotten married.

“I jumped right in and asked her, ‘Do you want to have kids?’ ” recalls Shields, 60. “And then I’m thinking, ‘Oh God, Brooke, you don’t know this girl.’ So I said, ‘I’m sorry. I know you have no reason to answer anything personal, but if you want them, don’t wait.’ ”

When Williamson texted her the next morning to grab a coffee, Shields, also an executive producer on the Acorn TV murder-mystery show was still overthinking: “Okay Brooke, just get ready to apologize for overstepping.” That’s when Williamson revealed she was pregnant. “Am I going to get fired?” she asked.

All to the contrary.  “I said, ‘We’ll have the baby on-set,’ ” says Shields with a laugh. “ ‘I’ll breastfeed, and it will be fine! We’ll make it all a happy family,’ and she said, ‘You’re sick, and I love you.’ And I’m like, ‘I think this is going to be fun.’ ”

One of the most famous faces in the world (she started modeling at 11 months old), Shields—and her cheeky sense of humor—will be front and center on You’re Killing Me (premiering May 18). She plays bestselling crime author Allison (Allie) Chandler, alongside Williamson, 31, as Andrea (Andi) Walker, an aspiring writer and true-crime podcaster. Together, they join forces to solve murder cases (and trade quips) in a quaint New England town.

It’s the latest chapter in the ever-evolving life of the beauty icon and mom of two, who shares two daughters, Rowan, 23, a booking producer at Good Morning America (who will be on the next season of Next Gen NYC), and Grier, 20, a college sophomore, with husband director, producer and screenwriter Chris Henchy, 62. 

She loves the “freedom” of turning 60. “I decided that I was going to take the year to have experiences,” says Shields. “It's been an unbelievably positive year for me in many different areas.” 

On-set with People and fresh off a late-night flight from Venice (where she learned about glassblowing), she is as stunning as ever (in red leather pants!) and cracking jokes under the studio lights. (“Am I having a hot flash?”) Here the founder of Commence, a start-up hair-care line for women over 40, chats about her funny role, embracing adventurous (and unique!) hobbies and why she feels “life is just beginning now.”

Who was your inspiration for Allie?

Me. I’m in this era of my life where I’m my own inspiration. Allie is just . . . she’s got it together until she doesn’t. She’s serious and very focused and then is kind of dorky. She can ride a mechanical bull, and she can be in the White House.

I bet you’ve done both!

Both things I can do.

“If I don’t have humor in my life, I would atrophy“

Brooke Shields

How’d the idea for the show come about?

We started talking about this generational gap—all the stuff that I feel with my daughters when they make fun of me is funny.  And then mysteries are such a genre with Only Murders in the Building; Matlock; Murder, She Wrote—that whole sort of familiar, mysterious but not too gory and also humorous. It gets your endorphins up and secreted a little bit. [Pauses] Can you say “secreted”?

As an executive producer, what changed?

I had never had my opinion or my input be asked for and valued and considered more—and so it was much more collaborative. I would always get, “Oh no, we want you to be likable.” Or, “We want you to look pretty.” Allie’s flaws are funny.  I think that there’s always been this, “Oh no, we need to keep you Brooke Shields, preserved and relatable and likable and as well as aspirational.” It’s impossible.

Speaking of how you “should” appear, you got pushback in 1996 with your Friends cameo when you played Joey’s crazed girlfriend.

It was, “No, it makes the stakes too high, makes you look crazy.” I was like, “The more crazy she looks, the better it’s going to be.” And then the payoff happened. I grew up in entertainment, modeling and fashion, and that’s mostly predicated on other people’s imprinting on you. And it took me a long time, longer than I hope for my girls, to realize that my voice really was important.

A lot of women are obsessed with true crime. Are you? 

True crime makes me unsettled because I’m convinced it’s all going to then happen to me. I think our kind of entertainment crime is in a completely different lane. Because you know they’re going to solve it eventually, and to see women together doing this is very appealing. . . . They’re the smarter ones.

So is it safe to say you don’t listen to true-crime podcasts like the one Andi hosts? 

I get sucked in very quickly, and then I can’t sleep. I guess I’m in an era where I just want happy endings and just not those kind of happy endings! 

Was the generational gap between Allie and Andi inspired by anything in your real life?

By two things: having daughters who are 20 and 23 and also by a conversation I had with my husband. About eight years ago I was going on about something, “I mean, I could play a superhero. I want to do Alias. I love what Jennifer [Garner] did.” He’s like, “You do know how old you are, right?” [That] spawned this kind of funny conversation about what if there was a character still at the top of her game but had limitations in ways that women in this era of their lives physically do. It kind of came from my kids making fun of me and my husband making fun of me. We get a theme here, right?

Does Andi’s character remind you of your daughters? 

Rowan’s definitely Andi. She’s got these kind of quick, quippy answers but sees everything. 

The chemistry between you and Williamson is so fun. 

She gets me, and I get her. And it’s balanced by Tom [Cavanagh] because he’s funny but very dry and wry. The best combination.

One of the themes is what happens when you begin to age out of something. Has that happened to you?

I hit a certain age, and all of a sudden I was spoken to differently, almost as if, “You’ve had a good run… It’s been good, right?” It started in my 40s, and it was kind of this slow burn. By the time I was in my mid-50s, that’s when it just started resounding in my ears. Thank God we’re talking about all these things like menopause and postpartum, but I did not want to be relegated to just being menopausal. That was when I started Commence. My life is just beginning now. Why am I being told I don’t have any value anymore? Okay, my ovaries don’t work. Fine. I don’t want them to work, to be honest, anymore. I’ve got my kids . . . 

There’s also a lot of jokes about aging. 

I have glasses on my head and on my neck, and I don’t know where my glasses are. All those funny little things that my kids would make fun of me for. But the flip side is us being able to say, “Yeah, but look how far I’ve come.” 

Tell me about the attraction with Allie and Detective Jack, played by Cavanagh. Who’s seducing whom?

They butt heads, and that makes their attraction even stronger. We don’t know yet whether there will be a full-on coupling of the two of us, but he’s got a twinkle that he knows very well how to access. 

We know what’s going to happen!

We know, or we hope! 

What’s it like for you to have sexy scenes now versus early in your career?

Now they have intimacy coaches, and they tape stuff. I mean, they did tape stuff to me when I was younger, and I had body doubles, so that was very different. And now I want a body double, and they won’t give it to me! So they’re equally as ridiculous. But I think I’m probably more self-conscious now because I need things to be a little lifted, so I’ve got to have a pulley system and lift "the girls" up. [Laughs]

Honest answer. You’re turning 61 on May 31, how are your 60s going?

Tremendous. I’m saying yes to things. I went lambing with friends in England. Pulled baby lambs out of their mothers—because first-time mothers don’t always know what’s happening, and they’re kind of  like, “What the f—?” Excuse me. I’ve always wanted to be a part of birthing baby lambs. It was on my bucket list, and it was an amazing experience. I [also] collaborated on a line of beautiful Venetian Murano glassware, La Tavola Eterna (The Eternal Table), with a friend of mine, Alvise Orsini, who has a glassware company, Orsini Venetian Glassworks. 

Can we go back to lambing?

I had bought it at an auction that was a charity for a children’s school in Oxfordshire, and they were like, “Oh, you just wanted to give money, right?” And I was like, “Well, of course, but I want to lamb.”  And I kept calling, and so they called me and said, “Okay, it’s within these next two weeks.” And I called my friends and said, “Let’s just do it.” 

So you help pull the baby lamb out of the mama lamb?

Oh, yeah. So you see the little snout and the little hooves. Then you can bring them right around to their mother. They can smell, and then they’ll start cleaning them up and let them nurse all within three minutes. 

You were an empty nester yourself for a little while, but now your oldest, Rowan, is back home. 

Her boyfriend and three of her friends were at the house last night. To be able to sit around and laugh and drink wine and play Rummikub, that was fabulous. My younger one is in the stage where it’s really hard to reach her. She’s very busy!

With the whole ’90s phenomenon, did you and your daughters watch Love Story?

We did. I mean, I [was] mentioned, so that was a little weird because I was away, and my daughter called me, and she goes, “Oh my God, you’re mentioned in Love Story. Is it true?” 

I hope they were impressed that you knew—and had a memorable kiss with—JFK Jr.?

I’m their mother, so it’s easier to make fun of me, or it’s easier to say, “Ugh, Mom, okay, fine. We get it. You were big in the ’80s and ’90s.” Because otherwise then I’m sort of property of everybody else. I’m no psychologist, but . . . 

What are your thoughts on beauty these days? 

For me, beauty means being smart and being strong—but I acknowledge that there are changes. I fully understand that beauty is so much more than just not having wrinkles. Listen, I work out. I get face peels. I mean, I have not gone under the knife. It seems tempting, but I’m too scared!

You’ve tried so many new things of late, from your 2023 documentary Pretty Baby to a one-woman show to your hair-care line. How is that for you?

I realized that I wasn’t trying to maintain youth or any of that, because I was fearing the end. I just got so excited about this era. And if I want to do something for myself, I can just do it. Being a part of a start-up [Commence] is no joke. It is terrifying, but [it’s] fighting for something that you believe in. I’ve learned that my instincts are actually the thing that’s going to make it a success. I’ve learned that my passion and commitment to something—it’s unstoppable. 

And now you have one more passion: a new spin on crime—and comedy!

Gosh, if I don’t have humor in my life, I would atrophy. It ignites me. It releases endorphins. It’s so innately in me that I don’t question it, which is freedom—and those are always my happiest moments. 

You’re Killing Me premieres May 18 on Acorn TV.

CREDITS

Photographer/director: Michael Schwartz

Motion DP: Scott Keenan

Interview DP: Eric Brouse

Set designer: Cassia Maher

Hair (for Shields): Jae Manuel Cardenas / Bellami Hair / Tracey Mattingly Agency

Makeup: Mark de los Reyes / Armani Beauty / Paradis Agency

Manicurist: Yukie Miyakawa / Dior / See Management

Stylist: Anatolli Smith

Hair (for cover models): Rochelle Walker / See Management

#Sexier #Funnier #Daring #EverBrooke #Shields #Killing