Brooke Shields Said She Would Get ‘Shunned After a Loss’ by Andre Agassi During Their Marriage
Brooke Shields and former tennis pro Andre Agassi tied the knot in 1997 after starting a romance via fax in 1993. The two superstars were both juggling high-profile careers, putting a strain on their marriage that prompted their divorce in 1999. Shields quickly learned that being the spouse of an athlete came with a set of challenges she hadn’t expected.
Brooke Shields and Andre Agassi were often apart
Agassi had solidified himself as a tennis champion by the time he met Shields. With his extensive schedule on the court and her NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan that launched in 1996, the newlyweds were on opposite timetables early in their marriage.
“Life on the show continued, and for the next two years Andre and I saw very little of each other,” Shields wrote in her memoir, There Was a Little Girl. “I was working so hard on the show and he was really working hard playing at various tennis tournaments.”
Shields knew deep down that their marriage was in trouble but chose to look the other way.
“Overall, the marriage was just existing, but if it felt somehow not what it was supposed to be, it was easy to avoid dealing with it,” the former Calvin Klein model admitted. “I maintain that it was not due to a lack of love as much as it was a lack of life.”
Andre Agassi shut Brooke Shields out after a loss
Over time, Shields noticed a pattern with Agassi where his record on the court would have an affect on their relationship.
“He alienated me when he lost and was on to the next tournament after he won,” she explained. “I then began to experience the other side to being an athlete’s girlfriend and now wife: the side that gets shunned after a loss.”
According to Shields, the tennis pro gave her the cold shoulder when he would lose a match. The Endless Love star often took his silence as directing his blame towards her.
“Somehow I was made to feel it was my fault,” she remarked. “I’d get the silent treatment or a projection of disdain that cut to my core. Sometimes he would not even look at me or speak to me when he lost but instead became even more isolated. In the past he had been more open, but he was changing drastically.”
Brooke Shields noticed their relationship dwindling
In her memoir, Shields wrote about her mother’s alcoholism and how she had grown accustomed to living with someone’s shifting moods. The former film actor felt an odd sense of familiarity with Agassi’s coldness.
“It felt hateful at times, but I waited it out,” Shields recalled. “Navigating someone else’s moods was a task I knew all too well. This would be a piece of cake. I almost liked it, quite honestly. It was familiar and the hint of martyrdom was not a bad fit.”
Shields noted that the emotional distance between them grew to the point of no return. They divorced in 1999.
“We had love, but it did not seem like that was enough,” she wrote. “I always thought love was enough. But the truth was we were growing past one another. And I’m not sure if we individually enjoyed how the other liked to live.”
