Brooke Shields doesn’t think she’d make it if she were a model just starting out today — but not because she thinks it’s any harder. In fact, just the opposite.
The 52-year-old supermodel said that in her heyday, hard work was the key to success, and you had to really put in the time and effort to do well.
Speaking to The New Potato, Brooke indicated that a strong work ethic isn’t nearly as prized among models in the industryanymore, and most seem to have a sense of entitlement.
Things have changed! Brooke Shields has admitted that she doesn’t think she’d make it as a model if she were starting out today
Icon: The 52-year-old was one of the biggest names in the business in the ’80s and ’90s
Work ethic: She said in her day, to be successful, a model had to put in a lot of hard work and have a good attitude
‘Maybe I was in a different realm, but it was more about hard work when I was doing it,’ she said. ‘You were only successful if you were really, really willing to work really hard and be on time and not have an attitude and not demand anything and sort of suffer.
‘Not that suffering is a good thing, because they really didn’t care about the models, but I notice now the entitlement,’ she went on. ‘You want to say, “Hey kid, you’re going to have to really stand out to last. You won’t last if you have this attitude!” So, I notice that the models themselves have changed.’
She also said that there seemed to be ‘more individuality’ back when she was modeling — and as the industry currently stands, ‘I don’t think I could handle it now.’
Despite her seemingly harsh words, though, Brooke wasn’t out to slam all of today’s supermodels. She had nice things to say about a couple, calling Karlie Kloss and Gigi Hadid ‘so sweet’.
She said you couldn’t demand anything you had to suffer a bit — but she doesn’t think young models today are going about it the same way
Not this one! She said many appear to be entitled and have a bad attitude — but she didn’t single anyone out, and said Karlie Kloss is ‘so nice’
Good in her book! She also said Gigi Hadid was nice, and has said in the past that she wouldn’t disparage people who got famous with help from their parents
She didn’t say whether her words about entitlement were aimed at any famous models in particular, and didn’t mention any other big names like Kendall Jenner or Hailey Baldwin.
In 2016, she made a point to say she would not slam models with famous last names like Kendall and Gigi, since her own mother was so instrumental in building her career.
‘I wouldn’t have been anywhere without my mom’s influence, so I’m not one to sort of be disparaging in that way,’ she said on Watch What Happens Live. ‘I do think that the criteria for being models constantly changes. In my era it was one thing, prior to that it was another — it was Twiggy.
‘And now it’s an association that’s sort of bridging a gap between modeling and celebrity and modeling and acting.’
One-of-a-kind! Brooke also said that models in her day were all individuals, like Christie Brinkley (left)
Not impressed: Today, many of the models she sees are trying to be like someone else, and she finds this derivative
One thing Brooke will happily sound off on is the tendency to compare models today to those who came before.
As far as she is concerned, no one can be the ‘next Kate Moss’ or even the next Brooke Shields — and they shouldn’t try to be, because it’s making up-and-coming models less impressive and just produces more of the same.
‘People now are trying to be the next Kate or the next so-and-so. People never became something by trying to be someone else; Kate was just Kate! I was just there. Cindy was her own thing. All of these girls, we were all just different,’ she said.
‘Claudia was her own thing; Christy was her own thing. Brinkley and Turlington were individuals. I don’t see that as much because everything now seems to be derivative.’