Brooke Shields

UPDATED 05/06/1996 at 01:00 AM EDT • Originally published 05/06/1996 at 01:00 AM EDT

AFTER THREE DECADES TRAPPED IN the role of American girlish innocence, she has matured inside and out. No more tongue-in-cheek Calvin Klein jeans ads; no more Blue Lagoons or pronouncements on virginity. Now a mature and straight-ahead Ms. Shields has moved on to the raunchy Rizzo role in Broadway's Grease! and has a sitcom in the works about a single woman's adventures. She has replaced her stage mother, Teri, with a new manager, and she shares her life with her 26-year-old fiancé, Andre Agassi. "I'm easier on myself," says the 30-year-old Princeton graduate. "I feel like holding my head tall [6 feet tall to be exact], and I no longer compare myself to other people." Her tennis partner agrees. "She has really learned to trust herself these past few years," says Agassi, "and that's sent her beauty over the top." The transformation has not been easy. Since fashion photographer Scavullo proclaimed her loveliness at age 1 (in an Ivory Snow ad), the focus on her looks has never stopped. This obsession in show business, she says, "is all-consuming. So I avoided it. I looked for faults instead of taking pride in what was positive." But now, thanks in part to daily aerobic activity ("I've lost my baby fat") and Andre's nurturing ("I'm accepted for everything"), the athletic actress is flaunting her assets. "I'm starting to enjoy getting dressed and going out," says Shields. "To relax and be proud and be happy and get on with my life."