Brooke Shields says she was 'a summer away' from a 'Grey Gardens'-like codependent relationship with her mom when she met her first husband Andre Agassi

• Brooke Shields has spoken again about her complicated relationship with her mother, Teri Shields.
• On "Onward with Rosie O'Donnell," she compared their dynamic to that of Big and Little Edie in "Grey Gardens."

Brooke Shields has again opened up about her complicated relationship with her mother Teri Shields.

The actor and model appeared on the podcast "Onward with Rosie O'Donnell" on Tuesday to discuss her two-part documentary, "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields," which chronicles her experience of growing up in the public eye and being sexualized as a child star.

It also explores her relationship with her mother and manager who made questionable decisions about her daughter's career, including allowing her to pose nude for a Playboy publication while a minor and appear semi-nude in films such as "Pretty Baby" and "The Blue Lagoon."

While discussing her and her mom's close relationship, Shields told O'Donnell: "You know, I joke that I was a summer away from being 'Grey Gardens.'"

"Feeding my mom cat food and telling her it was pâté," Shields added, referencing an infamous scene in the 1975 documentary about two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis — a narcissistic mother and codependent daughter — living in squalor in their dilapidated Long Island home.

During one particularly memorable moment in the film, Edie Bouvier Beale, or "Little Edie" as she was known, is seen feeding her mother, "Big Edie," cat food on crackers, which she tells her is liver pâté.

Shields explained that she was able to break away from her mom in her early twenties, thanks in part to her partner at the time, Andre Agassi.

The tennis pro, who the "Endless Love" star began dating in 1993 when she was 28 years old, gave Shields access to his team, who cleared out her and her mother's shared office in Los Angeles. Agassi also helped her find another agent.

"I needed him exactly for that," Shields said reflecting on the incident, which resulted in Teri not speaking to her for several months.

"I think we needed each other for different reasons at different times ... I would not have been able to do it," she said.

Shields and the tennis pro married in 1997, four years after they started dating in 1993.

They separated in 1999 after two years of marriage and Shields has been married to writer and producer Chris Henchy since 2001. They share teenage daughters Rowan, 19, and Grier, 16.

Teri passed away from a dementia-related illness at the age of 79 in 2012.