Serious Times for Brooke Shields

Actors, professional storytellers that they are, have no small stash of creative excuses to justify their tardiness: “Traffic on the 405,” “The relentless paparazzi,” “I had this thing that went late.” Brooke Shields, however, had a very legitimate excuse for arriving late to lunch at Il Sogno, an outdoor cafe in the Palisades.

That particular January morning, her 2-year-old American bulldog had collapsed at the dog park. More than an ordinary pet, Shields’ beloved Darla exists as a link to her best friend and former “Suddenly Susan” co-star, David Strickland, who hung himself in a Las Vegas motel room in March 1999. Shields had adopted Darla just weeks before Strickland’s death, and initially, Strickland didn’t much care for the dog. But soon it was Strickland who was reassuring Shields that Darla would eventually stop pooping on the kitchen floor. He’d even get down--eye-level with Darla--to encourage her to use the doggy door. Then, the very day Strickland died, Darla suddenly leaped through the doggy door for the first time.

“It was almost like David was on the other side saying, ‘C’mon, Darla. You can do it,’ ” recalls Shields, a sad quiver in her voice. On this day, unsure of Darla’s health, Shields manages to find a friend to rush her ailing pet to the vet while she races to an interview.

Say what you will about Shields--obsess stubbornly on her early blue period (as in the jeans and the “Lagoon”), take pot shots at her much-maligned 1996-2000 sitcom, “Suddenly Susan,” gossip about her laundry list of famous beaus--this 35-year-old is a professional who desires more than anything to be taken seriously as an actress--evidenced by her current choice of projects.

Through Sunday, Shields delivers a very grown-up dissertation on female genitalia alongside Swoosie Kurtz (who played Shields’ mom in “Suddenly Susan”) and Jenifer Lewis (of Lifetime’s “Strong Medicine”) in the Canon Theater’s ongoing production of “The Vagina Monologues.” (Shields appeared in the off-Broadway production last fall.) And Monday night, Shields forgoes lip gloss and mascara, playing a lesbian mom in the original Lifetime movie, “What Makes A Family”--the latest in a growing filmography of Shields projects involving gay themes and characters.

“It’s a piece of work that no one would have thought she could do because of the way people think about her,” says Whoopi Goldberg, executive producer of the TV movie along with Barbra Streisand. “For a long time, people mistook Brooke for a personality, but Brooke has always been an actor. Whatever work she was doing to try to improve herself was always sort of looked at and chuckled upon and not taken seriously. But if you watch her in this movie, you’ll see that she’s damn good.”

Goldberg was originally slated to play Shields’ role, but instead cast herself as the civil rights attorney representing Shields’ Janine Nielssen--a real-life woman who waged a bitter court fight to regain custody of her child from her deceased lover’s parents. In September, at one of her final two concerts at Staples Center, Streisand instructed Shields to stand up as the singer heralded her star’s performance.

To Goldberg, this is the role that may change Shields’ image. “I’ve known Brooke for a lot of her life,” says Goldberg. “There’s a vulnerability to her encased in strength--having come through everything she’s come through.” Goldberg’s admiration of Shields’ survival is not an exaggeration. From 1999 through today, Shields’ life has played like the plot of an overdone “E! True Hollywood Story,” scarred by suicide, addiction, illness, an eerie stalker and a very high-profile divorce. Shields admits to drawing heavily upon her recent tragedies in her creation of Janine.

“I’ve never known pain like the obliteration I’ve experienced in the last two years,” she says. “Does that make me a better actress? I don’t know. I notice that everything I play now I have a place to reference it to. David’s death [March 22, 1999]. My divorce [from tennis star Andre Agassi, granted April 9, 1999]. Everything hit within a two-month period.”

Shields’ divorce was a hot topic for the tabloids, which claimed Agassi was caught in an affair. Shields maintains, “It wasn’t an ugly, angry thing. It hurt. There was damage done, but we were both just really young. . . . We were hardly together and that does not a marriage make. He deserves to have someone make every hotel room a home for him.”

Asked if she still loves her ex, Shields answers without hesitation: “Oh, I’ll always love him. I really will. It breaks my heart sometimes. Maybe I’m just not very good at letting go.”

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Although she let it slip in an April 2000 issue of the Advocate that she was seeking an annulment, Shields now refuses to comment if the annulment she sought was granted by the Roman Catholic Church, to which she has maintained ties despite her strong support of homosexuals, birth control, a woman’s right to choose and her unwillingness to accept suicide as a mortal sin.

“The Catholic Church reads this and they come after me,” she frets. “I’m conflicted, but by the same token I don’t like to be told that my body’s not my own.” Shields is currently cohabiting with “Spin City” writer Chris Henchy, who moved into her Westside home two months ago following their engagement last July in Mexico--one bright spot in another dark year.

Her 2000 began with Shields helping authorities capture her alleged stalker (arrested last January after incidents that allegedly spanned 15 years), then mourning the cancellation of her sitcom, and undergoing a very private pre-cancer surgery, from which she has fully recovered. Hoping that the storm has finally passed, Shields plans to start a family with Henchy soon after they wed in a small “stress-free” ceremony at a date yet to be determined.

“There’s too much going on in our families right now,” she explains. “I want everybody to be there, and needless to say everyone’s sort of tied up.” The reference is to her ailing parents, divorced since Shields was 5 months old. Father Frank has just begun chemotherapy to combat prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Mother Teri--remembered as the overbearing stage mom who hustled her daughter in sexy ads and films--is waging the toughest battle yet in her well-publicized and long fight for sobriety. “She’s gone into a treatment program . . . I think,” says Shields, who has not spoken to Teri in well over a year. “I’m not quite sure of her whereabouts. Nothing I have done in the past has worked, so it’s just best for me to disengage and pray for her.”

Shields says this is the last time she will open up about her personal life. “What Makes a Family” will also be her last TV movie for awhile; she’s choosing instead to concentrate on film and theater projects (she is weighing offers from Broadway producers to assume leading roles in “Cabaret,” “Chicago” and “Seussical”). All this is part of a master plan backed by her management and publicity teams to shift America’s perception of her as a personality into that of an actress with staying power. Although she recently lost feature roles to Cameron Diaz and Gillian Anderson, Shields believes she will eventually make the leap into big studio projects.

“It’s just a matter of time,” says Shields. “One thing I have is longevity. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.” Incidentally, neither is Darla, who was diagnosed by her vet with a mild case of hip dysplasia. “She’ll be fine,” said Shields a few days later at the American Music Awards. “We’re both really good at surviving.”

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“What Makes a Family” can be seen Monday night at 9 on Lifetime. The network has rated it TV-14-D (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14, with special advisories for suggestive dialogue).