National Enquirer Checks Brooke Shields' Mom Out of Nursing Home

Brooke Shields's mother, who suffers from dementia, was checked out of a New Jersey nursing home Thursday by a The actress claims her mother was targeted by the National Enquirer reporter seeking a "tabloid story," the outraged actress told People magazine.

Teri Shields, 75, was later found unharmed at a restaurant next door to an assisted living center in Old Tappan, NJ, talking to a freelance reporter, according to police, who say no arrests have been made but that the case remains under investigation.

"I intend to take every lawful action against all who were involved or who authorized this despicable act," Brooke said. "My mother Teri Shields has been diagnosed with dementia. For her safety, she has temporarily been in a senior living facility, a very difficult decision for me," she says. "Late Thursday afternoon, I was alerted by Old Tappan Police that my mother had been signed out of the facility by two reporters of the National Enquirer … who falsely claimed they were friends of hers."

She adds: "They then drove my 75-year-old mother around looking for a tabloid story. As anyone knows who has a parent who suffers from dementia or Alzheimer's, it is one of the most difficult experiences you can go through as a son or daughter. The idea that the National Enquirer took advantage of her state is reprehensible and disgusting."

In a statement, the National Enquirer responds: "A freelance reporter who has known Teri Shields for more than 10 years visited her Thursday at the assisted living facility where Brooke says she moved her. Teri asked the reporter to take her out to lunch and to run some errands. The freelance reporter then got permission from the facility to do so."

Teri Shields was unharmed and found next door at a restaurant, but Brooke has come to understand that the reporters drove her around town while trying to solicit information that they could use for a tabloid story. When police arrived, she was with the reporter (the photographer, however, had been long gone). They questioned the man and walked Teri back to the nursing home.

"Teri has long considered this reporter a friend," the Enquirer said. "At no point did the facility, which had given its permission for the outing, contend that there had been any wrongdoing in a situation where two people who had known each for more than a decade."

No charges have been filed.


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