BROOKE SHIELDS - ENQUIRER BOSSES RESPOND TO SHIELDS' LEGAL THREAT

ENQUIRER BOSSES RESPOND TO SHIELDS' LEGAL THREAT

Editors at U.S. tabloid the National Enquirer insist a reporter who checked BROOKE SHIELDS' mother out of a New Jersey nursing home to take her for lunch did nothing wrong.
The actress went public with her outrage over the weekend (16May09), claiming her mother Teri, who suffers from dementia, was left alone in a restaurant after the journalist had interviewed her.
Shields has threatened to take legal action against the reporter over what she called "a despicable act".
She 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. 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.
"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."
But publication editors insist Shields has got it all wrong - the reporter in question is an old friend of her mother's.
A statement from the Enquirer reads, "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 run some errands.
"The freelance reporter then got permission from the facility to do so."
Police have launched an investigation.