"Andre Agassi gave me my first taste of freedom from my mom" - When Agassi's ex-wife Brooke Shields revealed why their relationship was 'so necessary'
Andre Agassi's ex-wife, actress Brooke Shields, once opened up about the significance of their relationship, despite their eventual separation. The pair tied the knot in 1997, but their marriage was short-lived as they divorced in 1999.
Agassi and Shields began dating in 1993, initially bonding over their experiences with controlling parents. Shields was raised by an alcoholic mother, while the eight-time Grand Slam champion had a complicated relationship with his father Emmanuel, which he later admitted could be perceived as abusive.
In a 2014 interview with People, Brooke Shields disclosed that her relationship with Andre Agassi was "so necessary" because it allowed her to experience some freedom from her mother for the first time. She also recounted how the former World No. 1 swept her off her feet by fulfilling her every need.
"The whole relationship with him was so necessary. He gave me my first taste of freedom from my mom. He swept me away. You'd say something and it would happen. There would be a plane or if I said 'I can't believe I have termites,' within 24 hours, the house would be tented," Shields said.
Shields fondly described the eight-time Grand Slam champion as sweet and devoted, but she acknowledged his "demons" with drug use, as Agassi had admitted to experimenting with crystal meth during their marriage in 1997.
"He is a devoted person, sweet and good but he had this demon, this affliction. But the other side, and what makes this so hard, is the way he welcomed me and my mother and anybody I loved. He is a really good human being," he added.
Brooke Shields also recalled how Andre Agassi had a meltdown over her cameo in the hit sitcom 'Friends' when he was struggling with his drug use. Feeling humiliated by the scene where Shields licked the fingers of Matt LeBlanc's character Joey, the former World No. 1 drove to Las Vegas in a fit of rage and "destroyed" all his tennis trophies.
"He said I made him look like a fool by licking Joey's fingers and he got in his car and drove all the way to Vegas. Once there, he smashed all of his tennis trophies, destroying them in a rage," she said.
"I was so unbelievably clueless" - Andre Agassi's ex-wife Brooke Shields on American legend's crystal meth use during their marriage
During the same interview, Brooke Shields admitted that she had been "unbelievably clueless" about Andre Agassi using crystal meth during their marriage. Nevertheless, the Hollywood star empathized with Agassi, highlighting that players often needed to blow off steam amid their "intense" regimen.
"I was so unbelievably clueless. To this day, I think to myself 'My God, Brooke. All you've seen in your life and you couldn't pick this up?'" Shields said.
"But if you watch these athletes play, they play five, six, seven hours at the highest level and they keep going and going and the regimen surrounding them is so intense that my justification was, I guess you need to blow off steam when you can," she added.
Agassi, meanwhile, explained that he was entranced by the "power of drugs" due to his struggle with depression and the realization that he no longer wanted to be married to Shields.
Following his divorce from Brooke Shields, Andre Agassi married fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf in 2001. They have two children together, a son Jaden and a daughter Jaz.