{"id":2421534,"date":"2026-05-18T10:05:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2421534"},"modified":"2026-05-18T10:05:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:05:55","slug":"in-youre-killing-me-brooke-shields-navigates-aging-and-relevance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/in-youre-killing-me-brooke-shields-navigates-aging-and-relevance\/","title":{"rendered":"In ‘You’re Killing Me,’ Brooke Shields navigates aging and relevance"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brooke Shields would not consider herself an armchair detective by any means. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to really know,\u201d she says on a recent weekday. \u201cI\u2019m not big on gore. I like getting just enough clues to make me feel smart, but not to really get it \u2014 at the end, I want to be like, \u2018I didn\u2019t know who did it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s having fun playing one onscreen. In Acorn TV\u2019s \u201cYou\u2019re Killing Me,\u201d she plays Allison \u201cAllie\u201d Chandler, a bestselling mystery novelist behind the popular Selena St. Cloud series who, after feeling the push from her publisher to freshen up her work, partners with a young, aspiring writer and podcaster named Andi (Amalia Williamson) to solve real-life crimes in their small fishing town in Maine. And like the competent multitasking women they inhabit, as they\u2019re piecing clues together, their dynamic fuels a path of internal discovery for both. The six-episode murder mystery dramedy \u2014 created by Robin Bernheim, a longtime collaborator of Shields \u2014 premieres Monday.<\/p>\n

Over video call from the New York City office of AMC Networks, the parent company of Acorn TV, the 60-year-old actor spoke about how she relates to the character and finding self-worth beyond age and beauty. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n

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Brooke Shields plays bestselling mystery novelist Allison \u201cAllie\u201d Chandler in \u201cYou\u2019re Killing Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Mike Tompkins \/ Acorn TV)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

What drew you to \u201cYou\u2019re Killing Me,\u201d and specifically the character of Allison Chandler, at this stage in your life and your career?<\/b><\/p>\n

It felt bizarrely autobiographical in the sense that I\u2019m in an era in my life where my kids are making fun of me because I say things like, \u201cThere will be no vaporizing in this house\u201d \u2014 and I say it with complete conviction. There was this idea of this generational gap between these two women. When Robin and I were developing this, we thought, \u201cWouldn\u2019t it be interesting to delve into that dynamic? And what world could we set it in that would make it fun, smart, a little dangerous at times, but really just purely entertaining?\u201d What made me love Allie is that she\u2019s not afraid to look stupid. But when her real wits and intelligence come into place, it\u2019s unbeatable. There\u2019s this level to her. She\u2019s silly. She doesn\u2019t mean to be, she doesn\u2019t take herself too seriously, but she happens to be very intelligent, so that combination of those two things makes her just appealing. And then the relationship with Andi is so counterbalancing in a really delightful way. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s also confronting this existential question: What do I want my life to look like now? And trying to figure out if she has some agency in that, or does she just have to let it happen to her. What did that part of it spark in you?<\/b><\/p>\n

It has to be twofold. You have to be at a place in your life where you claim your agency, but you can\u2019t claim something so tightly that you think you can dictate it. You have to be open. And I think that\u2019s what Andi helps Allie do. There\u2019s this idea of knowing who she is, but also allowing herself to go with a flow, which is not in her DNA. But that also is very indicative of my generation and where I am in my life, which is: Kids are gone. We\u2019ve done all this stuff to make sure they can go out in the world on their own, and now we\u2019re at the precipice of, \u201cWell, who am I? What does that mean? What do I do? Am I still a sexual being? What motivates me?\u201d All that kind of stuff that happens to a woman in my age bracket. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s that been like for you<\/i> to navigate?<\/b><\/p>\n

Part of it\u2019s terrifying, and part of it is like, \u201cLet me out!\u201d It\u2019s basically uncharted territory. We\u2019re not taught this as women. We\u2019re not taught it culturally. We\u2019re not taught it historically. … Women are much more formidable than people give them credit for in this age. You have to go through all the stages of it. I mean, I thought my world had just fell out from underneath me when my second daughter left. Then there\u2019s a freedom in it. I started my own company, Commence, about that \u2014 about empowering women, to say: You\u2019ve done the kids, you\u2019ve had the career, what do you want now? There\u2019s no rules. It\u2019s scary. <\/p>\n

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Amalia Williamson, left, as podcaster Andrea \u201cAndi\u201d Walker and Brooke Shields as bestselling novelist Allison Chandler. The pair join forces to solve murders in a small fishing town in \u201cYou\u2019re Killing Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Mike Tompkins \/ Acorn TV)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

B<\/b>ecause you came up in Hollywood or were coming of age in Hollywood, does this stage of life actually feel like more of a moment of discovery for you about who you are? Or how do you think about it?<\/b><\/p>\n

Absolutely, hands down. And I do attribute a lot of it to this show because while being a part of \u201cYou\u2019re Killing Me,\u201d I was an executive producer, and in my career, I\u2019ve had titles before, but I had never been asked my opinion before. That doesn\u2019t happen a lot. I never lived<\/i> in Hollywood. I never knew that world, but I was a model and an actress. It wasn\u2019t until I went to college that I started understanding that I had my own brain. This<\/i> era of my life, I\u2019m so enjoying having opinions and voicing them and watching what happens when I do that with respect. I\u2019m a woman who\u2019s lived a lot and have a lot more that I want to live. I\u2019m grappling with it in real time. And so is Allie. Allie has had multiple marriages, and this young woman comes into her life, and it\u2019s fraught, but they\u2019re learning from each other. I feel like that\u2019s where I am right now. But I feel so much stronger and better now than I ever have.<\/p>\n

I want to talk more about the dynamic between Allie and Andi. In any industry, there\u2019s always the fear of how long can I hold on to my relevance, and when am I going to be pushed out by the next generation? You\u2019ve talked about your time at Princeton and, when it was over, worrying about whether people in Hollywood forgot about you. I\u2019m curious what you\u2019ve come to appreciate or understand about that.<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a currency that accompanies youth and beauty. At a very, very early age, I knew, \u201cI\u2019m not always going to be 15; I\u2019m not always going to look like I did in \u2018Blue Lagoon.\u2019\u201d OK, but then this body gave me babies, and this body survived accidents, and was on Broadway multiple times. You have to go through and decide where your real currency is for you. And to me, that was longevity, that was intelligence, that was friendships and being the kind of person I wanted to be. In Hollywood, as an actress \u2014 listen, once you\u2019re not an ingenue, you\u2019re done, right? There\u2019s only a few Meryl Streeps and Glenn Closes and Helen Mirrens. The pool gets very, very small. As a young person, I knew that I couldn\u2019t put all eggs in one basket. When I got an education, I thought, \u201cOh, OK, what motivates me? Is it writing? Theater?\u201d I tried to look at where I was as a whole human and how I could still stay creative because if I had moved to Hollywood and just waited to be picked, I\u2019d be a disaster at this point. <\/p>\n

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In the NBC sitcom \u201cSuddenly Susan,\u201d which ran from 1996 to 2000, Brooke Shields portrayed a magazine columnist and Judd Nelson her editor.<\/p>\n

(Paul Drinkwater \/ NBC)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

I was a fan of \u201cSuddenly Susan,\u201d where you leaned into the physical comedy, and I enjoyed seeing <\/b>you do <\/b>some of that here. <\/b><\/p>\n

I had to fight for it … because everybody\u2019s always so worried that I\u2019m not going to be likable or I\u2019m going to be silly or stupid. And I said, you balance it with the drama and the emotional part. It\u2019s where I\u2019m happiest. Maybe it\u2019s no Academy Award but, to me, it\u2019s joyous to be able to not be afraid to look silly or stupid or falter or have flaws or all of that, so that when I do show up differently emotionally and dramatically, it resonates a little bit more. I like that type of character to play.<\/p>\n

Allison\u2019s publisher thinks it\u2019s time to retire the beloved fictional character, Selena St. Cloud. To make the point, he uses statements like, \u201cGive the old gal a rest\u201d and <\/b>\u201d<\/b>You need to broaden your appeal.\u201d I suspect you\u2019ve encountered your fair share of exchanges like that in your career. Can you tell me about one that stands out?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not one, it\u2019s this through line of once your ovaries don\u2019t work, you kind of lose your value. And that is in every industry. Her sales with the Selena St. Cloud novels are waning a little bit and new blood comes in. And new blood is always much more exciting \u2014 it\u2019s sexier, it\u2019s prettier, it\u2019s cuter, it\u2019s buoyant and softer and everything. That\u2019s a dynamic that women deal with all the time. I knew that from a young age. My mom was like, \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be someone coming up behind you. Make room for them.\u201d That was a really important lesson because it didn\u2019t negate my value, but it allowed me to pave the road for other women. People don\u2019t think that. They think we\u2019re bitchy. They think we\u2019re attacking each other. It isn\u2019t that you\u2019re replaceable, it\u2019s that there\u2019s more for you to do in different paths. That\u2019s why I called my book \u201cBrooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old,\u201d because people want want me to stay a certain way. So, I\u2019ve experienced it, but I never had to really believe it. Because while I wasn\u2019t being wanted in film, I was navigating to TV and theater and and comedy and writing and finding other ways to keep realizing my capacity creatively. That\u2019s what these two women in this show are doing. One\u2019s really good with forensics, the other is really good with motive and story. And it\u2019s that intelligence that they share with each other, and they\u2019re not jealous of each other. It\u2019s not a competition. It\u2019s a conglomeration of something that\u2019s even better together.<\/p>\n

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\"A <\/picture> <\/div>\n
\"A <\/picture> <\/div>\n

Brooke Shields, of Acorn TV\u2019s six-episode murder mystery \u201cYou\u2019re Killing Me,\u201d poses for a photo in New York City.<\/span> (David Urbanke \/ For The Times)<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Does acting feel more like natural at this point in your career?<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not judging myself in the same way that I used to. I used to think, \u201cOh, that wasn\u2019t good\u201d or \u201cWhat if they don\u2019t like me?\u201d There was just this barrier. Now, I don\u2019t have that barrier. And again, the comedy and drama \u2014 \u201cLipstick Jungle\u201d did it. \u201cSuddenly Susan\u201d was much more comedic, but \u201cLipstick Jungle\u201d was the first time I ever thought, \u201cOh, wait a minute, you\u2019re actually accessing your talent and you don\u2019t fit into one category or box.\u201d Now, at this age, you also go, how much time do I have left? I\u2019m going to go \u2014 excuse the expression \u2014 balls to the wall at this point.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still angry \u201cLipstick Jungle\u201d didn\u2019t have a longer run.<\/b><\/p>\n

We were poised to, but TiVo overnight took all the advertising money out of our budget. So NBC, and whatever the studio was, went from having multitudes of advertising money \u2014 not just in product placement, but in commercials \u2014 gone. People were fast forwarding through all the commercials because they were watching it on TiVo. And that petrified everybody. We were thrown out like baby with the bathwater. <\/p>\n

Something that really struck me while watching your documentary a few years ago was, it can be hard now to comprehend what fame was like in the \u201980s and the \u201990s. <\/b>S<\/b>ocial media has changed fame in a lot of ways. But how do you think back on that time and what you were experiencing? <\/b><\/p>\n

I buried my head in the sand for a really long time, and it wasn\u2019t until the documentary that I looked back at the insanity of it. I was able to compartmentalize enough to not have it eat away at me \u2014 this feeling of, like, going to the Cannes Film Festival and having people try to cut your hair off and the frenzy of it. And because my mom kept me in the public eye for a very specific reason, but my private life was in school and with friends, and to this day, I have very few friends who are even in the entertainment industry. It was a level of infamy. It was a crazed type of infatuation with stardom, not generated from me, but at me. In my mind, it was ridiculous, because I didn\u2019t understand the value of it. I still don\u2019t really see the value of it, unless it\u2019s used for good, or maybe even getting a table at a restaurant. But it always intellectually and psychologically felt it had nothing to do with the actual work. I think that\u2019s the same today, but now, the word \u201cinfluencer,\u201d like, what? I probably was that when I was 6. How could I be on the cover of Time magazine as a face of an entire decade? To me, it\u2019s funny to look back at, but I\u2019ve never really placed too much actual value on it. <\/p>\n

I can sometimes get lost in the <\/b>w<\/b>hat <\/b>i<\/b>fs. Do you have those moments? Like, what if your career had started later, do you think you would have been better equipped to handle the kind of fame you amassed in your youth? <\/b><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a problem with \u201cWhat if?\u201d \u2014 it negates \u201cWhat now?\u201d If I start going down that road, your brain only knows how to give you a negative answer. Because it\u2019s brilliant at it. It will answer every friggin\u2019 negative question you ask it. What if I had gotten \u201cDangerous Liaisons\u201d? This would have happened, this would have happened<\/i>. I resist that. There was a period of time when I thought, \u201cGod, I wish I hadn\u2019t become so famous so early\u201d because it definitely narrowed my the ability for me to morph into characters and be the actress that I always thought I wanted to be. <\/p>\n

You can\u2019t change the past, but what you can change is your reaction now and the way you move forward into the future. And believe me, I\u2019m not Zen at all, but I can\u2019t do the what ifs, because I will always come out on the wrong side of that. Now I\u2019m harnessing what I do have and what I am, and if that\u2019s fame, and if that\u2019s celebrity, it allows me to do this and get a green light for a show on Acorn \u2014 like there\u2019s so many really talented actresses out there, and I\u2019m given this opportunity. I don\u2019t want to lose sight of that.<\/p>\n

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\"A <\/picture>\n
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A young Brooke Shields in the 2023 documentary, \u201cPretty Baby: Brooke Shields,\u201d directed by Lana Wilson.<\/p>\n

(From Sundance Institute)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Apologies for taking a turn here, but I bring this up because when I saw the news alert, I thought of you because you were very open about your postpartum journey. Secretary Robert <\/b>F. <\/b>Kennedy Jr. recently announced initiatives intended to rein in antidepressants. <\/b><\/p>\n

Those are my best friends.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve talked about how helpful medication was for you. And you changed a lot of lives in talking about your postpartum journey. The initiative encourages clinicians to rely on non-drug treatments like therapy or nutrition and exercise.<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, they should talk to Tom Cruise. Exercise and vitamins \u2014 there\u2019s your headline.<\/p>\n

Do you have any thoughts on it? Is there anything you\u2019d want to say to him or the public?<\/b><\/p>\n

I will certainly never be in a position where I feel like I can address someone like him. I don\u2019t know him. What I can say is, I\u2019m not sure I would be alive without the aid of medicine, including therapy, including a healthier lifestyle \u2014 not that I needed to be healthier \u2014 but those are things that, when I spoke to my delivery doctor, he said, \u201cMedicine exists for a reason. And it\u2019s how you adjust or adapt or accept \u2014 that\u2019s your personal choice.\u201d I\u2019ve only known devastating stories in people in my life who have not either had access or have been unable to have access to the myriad of different ways that you can get help. I stand there and that\u2019s all I can do.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooke Shields would not consider herself an armchair detective by any means. \u201cI don\u2019t want to really know,\u201d she says on a recent weekday. \u201cI\u2019m not big on gore. I like getting just enough clues to make me feel smart, but not to really get it \u2014 at the end, I want to be like, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2421535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2421534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/In-Youre-Killing-Me-Brooke-Shields-navigates-aging-and-relevance.com2Fd42F932F9555516145379c847531fd2a.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2421534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2421536,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421534\/revisions\/2421536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2421535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2421534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2421534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2421534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}