‘You’re Not Gonna Live Through This’- Andre Agassi’s Ex-wife Brooke Shields’ Pregnancy Experience Has an Eery Similarity to Serena Williams

Andre Agassi’s gorgeous and talented ex-wife Brook Shields is now making headlines owing to her recent documentary- “Pretty Baby”. The docu-series traces her life, right from the beginning of her stardom and the end of her childhood to where she stands today- after several life-altering experiences. During the story, Shields candidly reveals several intimate moments that shaped her life off-camera and had significant consequences. One such narrative is her story of childbirth. Strangely akin to WTA legend Serena Williams, blessed with two beautiful daughters Rowan and Grier, Shields reminisces about her near-death experience when she was pregnant with her eldest.

Married to Andre Agassi in 1997, Shields did not have a long-lasting first marriage with the ATP legend. The couple divorced only two years after in 1999 and in 2001, Shields found love again with Chris Henchy. She married him and dreamed of starting a family, of becoming a mother- like she always wanted. However, not everything goes according to plan, and destiny had something totally different in mind. Shields would go on to struggle with her pregnancy for months until she finally give birth to little Rowan- and that too with a gruesome struggle.

How Andre Agassi’s ex-wife struggled with death in the face of a critical pregnancy

The story of Shields’ motherhood begins way before her marriage, adulthood even. It begins when she was being interviewed as a child and asked about what she would like to become when she grew up. To that, she said, “I want to become a mother.” Clearing all doubts she justified, “I mean I wanna continue acting, but I would also like to be a mother. ‘Cause I love kids.”

In fact, Shields loved babies when she herself was one. This drove her to desire motherhood for herself, but easier said than done. Over the period of the next few months, Shields would face several biological turndowns while trying for a baby.

“We tried and nothing was happening. I started doing IVF as quickly as I could. And then when it wasn’t working, I started going into this ‘I’m being punished’- part. I was like, ‘Something’s wrong with me, oh my God, I’m not meant to be a mother.'”

Read more: ‘It’s Taken Me a Long Time’- Andre Agassi ‘s Ex Wife and Hollywood Star Brooke Shields Finally Breaks Her Silence

During this time, Chris was constantly by her side, helping her do away with these ill thoughts. “That’s not the way the world works, snap out of it”, he said. Chris’s supportive statements are very alike Serena’s husband Alexis Ohanian’s who was literally her pillar of strength during her complicated pregnancy.

After all the elaborate treatment, Shields finally got pregnant in 2003. Three months later, she had a miscarriage and lost the child. However, she kept on trying until the 7th transfer when she got pregnant again. This pregnancy made her feel sexy again, whole again. She felt like she was nurturing another life within her body, and after several months, she finally felt “good”.

Soon after, she was taken into labor and it was here that she realized that the war with destiny wasn’t over yet. She went into labor for 24 hours. A video from this time shows her talking to the soon-to-be-born Rowan, “You’re a little stubborn…and the cervix didn’t cooperate. So we’re gonna get you out so you can meet your mom and dad”, she says. Right after, she breaks down, and the camera shuts off after Chris turns it to him and says, “We’ll see you soon”. 

“From ‘We will really try to give you the experience you want’, to emergency C-section, to so much blood loss, to ‘you’re not gonna live through this'”, Brooke says recalling the time in labor. Shield’s story is strikingly similar to WTA legend Serena Williams’, who struggled with childbirth in the face of death. Williams’ hematoma made it impossible for her to have a normal pregnancy and Olympia was born after an emergency C-section when the doctors realized that her heart rate had dropped beyond normal!

WATCH THE STORY: When Andre Agassi openly defended preferential treatment given to Serena Williams at Wimbledon

However, beating all odds and a 24-hour labor, Rowan was finally born a healthy baby, and everyone around Shields was relieved, to say the least. Nonetheless, not all oddities were down as Shields still had a good chunk of the battle still left to win the war.