UPDATED: The elder Shields battled a long illness related to dementia.
Brooke Shields’ mother and former manager Teri Shields, who booked her daughter’s first job at just 11 months old, died Wednesday in Manhattan at 79 years old.
Her death followed a long illness related to dementia, a rep for the actress told The New York Times.
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Brooke first appeared on the national stage in an advertisement for Dove soap before her first birthday. By 10 years old, she was photographed in the nude.
Teri navigated Brooke’s early, sometimes controversial career moves, including her role as a child prostitute in 1978’s Pretty Baby and a topless Calvin Klein campaign at 15.
Theresa Anna Lillian Schmon was born on Aug. 11, 1933, in Newark, N.J. Before marrying Brooke’s father, Francis Alexander Shields, in 1964, Terri worked as a hairstylist, a makeup artist for Lord & Taylor and a model, according to a statement from her daughter. Brooke was born in 1965, and “it was then that Teri found her career” as a manager, the statement reads.
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Teri and her husband divorced when their daughter was just a few months old. Aside from Brooke, who has admitted to having a strained relationship with her mother, Teri’s survivors include a sister and two granddaughters.
Brooke, 47, declined to comment on her mother’s death to multiple news outlets. A representative for the star did not immediately return The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment.
UPDATE: Brooke has issued the following statement: "My mother was an enormous part of my life and of who I am today. I loved her, laughed with her, and respected her. And although she had her share of struggles, she was my mom."
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