WASHINGTON -- Teen-age actress Brooke Shields told Congress Thursday her sex symbol image was inaccurate and a poor reason for the government to drop a series of anti-smoking advertisements that featured her.
'I'm and actress and these commericals I have filmed are quite different (from the movie roles),' she said. 'These commercials are me and those are my true feelings.'
Her appearance before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations overshadowed a confrontation between Congress and the administration.
With her quiet voice and wearing brown pants, a blue blouse and blue shoes, Miss Shields, in Hollywood tradition, stole the show.
Television cameras zoomed in on the slim 16-year-old movie star with the flowing dark hair, and hundreds of spectators, drawn by her name, lined up to attend the hearing.
The subcommittee is trying to determine whether the government dropped her ads because she was ineffective, too sexy or because of tobacco industry pressure.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which decided to drop the ads, was not invited to present its side of the story because of a dispute with committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., over interviewing procedures.
The anti-smoking ads include Miss Shields posing with cigarettes sticking out of her ears and saying, 'I think people who smoke are real losers.'
HHS officials said they didn't think she was an appropriate role model -- referring to her portrayal of a teen-age prostitute in one movie and suggestive blue jean commercials she has done.
'I was hurt very much when I found out that the commercials were withdrawn by the government,' Miss Shields quietly told the lawmakers. 'I think I'm a very effective spokesperson to do the commercials.'
Government health experts had targeted the advertisements for teen-age girls.
Miss Shields, who said in her testimony she thought less of people who smoked, said among the reasons she opposes cigarettes was that both of her grandfathers died from lung diseases.
Lawmakers treated her gingerly. Rep. Don Ritter, R-Pa., who brought up her sex-symbol image, went out of his way to emphasize he was not implying she was in real life like the characters she portrayed in the movies.
But he noted HHS officials are also interested in curbing teen-age venereal disease and promiscuity and may have felt her image would not help curb those problems.
Rep. Doug Walgren, D-Pa., echoing charges made by anti-smoking groups, said there was 'no question' Miss Shields anti-smoking ads were effective. He said they were dropped because of pressure from the tobacco industry.
'It's a matter of dollars and cents ... the tobacco industry is extremely powerful in this country and that's as plain as the nose on everybody's face.'
The dispute between the department and the panel occurred because HHS Secretary Richard Schweiker refused to allow subcommittee investigators to interview his aides without a department observer present.
So Dingell did not invite any HHS officials to testify, saying Schweiker's decision 'would have a chilling effect' on his panel's ability to oversee the department and was contrary to the longstanding subcommittee policy.
In a letter read by Rep. Marc Marks, R-Pa., David Newhall, Schweiker's top aide, denied pressure from the cigarette industry had anything to do with the decision.
'I can say unequivocally that not one phone call, meeting, memo or communication of any kind took place between HHS personnel involved in this decision and anyone connected with the tobacco industry,' Newhall said.
He said the ads were dropped because they did not contain important health information and instead relied on name-calling by a celebrity and had not been tested.
