WhileBrooke Shieldsguest starring onFriendsin 1996 turned out to be one of the best moves of her career, given how it led straight to getting her own television series, not everybody was thrilled about the cameo. At the time, Shields was dating tennis star Andre Agassi, whom she’d go on to marry the following year. The pair’s marriage was ultimately not meant to last, as Shields and Agassi divorced in 1999.
In a new interview with theNew Yorker, Shields addressed how herFriendscameo had been problematic for her relationship with Agassi. For her guest appearance, Shields played a mentally ill stalker who mistakenly believes Joey (Matt Le Blanc) is actually the character he plays onDays of Our Lives. While having dinner with Joey, Shields' character memorably cackles maniacally before licking his fingers. Shields recalls how Le Blanc told her how clean his hands were for the scene.
“In the scene, I’m supposed to lick Joey’s fingers, because they’re the hands of a genius, and I want to devour them, and I’m a nut. He was cute—he was, like, ‘I’ve washed my hands and they’re all clean.’ I was, like, ‘I had a mint!'”
While series producers and people in the studio audience were highly amused, the same couldn’t be said for Agassi, who has openly admitted to using meth during his relationship with Shields. In her new interview, Shields notes how Agassi’s meth use may have played a factor in his reaction, though with that said, she remembers him storming out of the studio after witnessing the scene.
“Andre was in the audience supporting me, and he stormed out. He said, ‘Everybody’s making fun of me. You made a fool of me by that behavior.’ I’m, like, ‘It’s comedy! What is the matter with you?’ I learned later that he was addicted to crystal meth at that point, so that irrational behavior I’m sure had something to do with that.”
Shields would also describe Agassi’s reaction as “petulant” behavior, recalling how it suddenly shifted her focus from her acting back to him.
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Agassi wasn’t happy, but producers saw something special in Shields’ spot onFriends. She recalls how the producers initially didn’t want her to do this maniacal cackle she does in the dinner scene, but Shields insisted, feeling that it better sold just how “crazy” her character really was. When the cackle landed, it quickly led to conversations with Shields that resulted in her getting cast as the lead of her own sitcom,Suddenly Susan.
“What was so affirming about it was that, in the first take, they didn’t want me to do the crazy laugh and the licking of his fingers. And I throw my head back in this cackle. We had done it in rehearsal, and they said, ‘It’s too crazy. Don’t do it.’ And I begged for it. ‘It’s so funny. It just makes her crazier. And she’s pretty, so she needs to really be crazy.’ And they were, like, ‘No, no.’ We did the first take, and it was fine. And then the second take, they scream, ‘Shields! Put it back in!’ All of a sudden, the energy changed, and all these men in suits started coming into the studio. The next day, I was asked if I wanted to do my own television show.”
