Written by Staff Writer
CNN
Brooke Shields recalls an interview with Barbara Walters conducted in a hotel room 13 years ago, in which Walters asked for the “news angles” in a story of a 13-year-old hotel room that he apparently treated like an adult playground.
The interview, which Shields was eventually able to publish in her new memoir, “Still Holding On,” was one of many strange encounters Shields had with the shock talk show host when Walters came to the age of sixty-one in 2003, according to an excerpt published in the August 21, 2015 edition of People magazine.
The excerpt went on to say Walters asked many probing questions to a straight-laced Shields, hoping to find something salacious, but in fact came away with a story about how Walters had once invited her to participate in a naughty game of ping pong that ultimately ended with Walters falling asleep.
In “Still Holding On,” Shields writes about the 1976-1977 year when Walters asked her to ride in the front seat of her car.
But when the actress refused to be transported by a younger driver, Walters took things to a “terrifying new level,” Shields wrote. She described the harassment Walters subjected her to over this single argument, as she sat in the passenger seat, holding on to her legs for dear life.
Brooke Shields’ mugshot from 1977. Credit: Courtesy Ro Lamorillo/Getty Images
When asked by Walters to “tell me a news angle” in a story about a child abusing older man, Shields said she couldn’t.
And yet, she wrote, “that was Walters’ take,” so she told her her “blame game is gonna destroy the marriage.”
“I felt like I was about to be gang-raped,” Shields recalled. “She stuck her hands into my dress and I screamed. She reached for me again. I couldn’t control my anger. She was stroking my body as she yelled at me and started to grab my ears and … I was really scared.”
Stephanie Kamen – stock photo courtesy Ro Lamorillo
In her memoir, Shields describes waiting for Walters to calm down and almost apologizing on her behalf. “On some level I wanted to tell her I didn’t think any situation was worth the way she acted,” Shields wrote.
But Walters’ reputation for awkwardness made it hard for Shields to remain silent, according to the interview excerpt.
“I said, ‘I’m uncomfortable,’” She continued, “She called me an idiot. The abuse had taken place because she didn’t get it, she couldn’t understand, so she punished me. She treated me like an animal.”
Barbara Walters, famed TV journalist, former talk show host, talk show producer and agony aunt — who also played the character “Harpo Marx” on the show “All in the Family” — died Wednesday, August 17, 2015 at age 83.
In later years, Walters would come to know Shields, and was invited to her home for a dinner with friends, according to People.