Anyone who followed the career of Brooke Shields is well aware of the actress' mother, Teri Shields.

Arguably the original "momager," Teri earned her share of bad press and finger-wagging over the years, but now, the person who knew her best wants to set the record straight in a new book, titled "There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me." In it, Shields opens up about the loving and sometimes complicated relationship she shared with Teri — as only she can tell it.

"Once my mother passed away, I thought that it was the appropriate time for me to tell my version of our story," she explains in an exclusive interview with FOX News Magazine.

Shields adds that she, herself, had gained a greater understanding of her mother's actions while writing and researching. "I knew how she acted, I could piece together information, but she rarely told me how she really felt about things," Shields reveals. "And I think that was sort of sad and surprising to me to realize, in a way, how little I knew about the pain my mother was feeling."

Hear more from the star, including the lessons she learned (and those she learned to avoid) by watching mom.