Brooke Shields Says Mother “Directed My Romantic Life,” Even Failed Romance With John Travolta

Life as a young star can be an incredibly volatile thing, with too many variables just ready to push for—at the very least—normalcy, and at worst, disaster. A lot of that depends on the parents. For Brooke Shields her mother tried to maintain total control over the actress’s dating life, and even pushed her into an arranged—and ultimately failed—relationship with John Travolta.

70-year-old Travolta first gained national prominence in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, followed by one usccess after another with Carrie, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. Shields began her career as a child model starting at just 11 months old. One of her most infamous acting credits, Pretty Baby, came when she was just 11. In Brooke’s 2014 memoir, There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me, fans get a look at the way her mother’s will impacted her life in the most personal of ways.

Brooke Shields was put into a relationship with John Travolta because of her mother

Within the pages of There Was a Little Girl, Shields outlines the PR-first mindset her mother, Teri Shields, maintained as she watched her daughter’s career unfold. Dating always generated buzz for the celebrities involved, and so, Teri reasoned, according to Brooke, her daughter needed to be dating.

“Basically my ‘relationships’ had always been orchestrated by my mother in one way or another,” Shields claims in her memoir. “She directed my romantic life sometimes subtly and sometimes not. She didn’t focus on romance (never mind love), but instead wanted to associate me with names that connoted fame, money, and power. These were relationships she supported, also because they were less attainable.”

Reclaiming the narrative

So, just as Travolta had Blow Out, Shields had Endless Love premiering. Her mother wanted to try and generate some endless love between Shields and Travolta, who shared the same PR firm at that time. It certainly got attention, though an interview with PEOPLE indicates that it was not always worshipful fanfare. But sometimes all press is good press.

Travolta was 27 years old when he agreed to a few strategic dates with Shields, who was 16 years old when her other allegedly set the whole thing up.The actress is the first to assure that nothing happened between the two of them, but they did spark up a genuine, enduring friendship that both treasure to this day.

“There are lots of women with physical beauty, but Brooke exudes goodness,” Travolta has praised of Shields. “She’s untainted. You don’t want anyone to hurt her or say the wrong things, because she’s special.”