Brooke Shields She spent a lot of her life being fun. As a teenager, she smiled sweetly when reporters inquired if she felt over-sexualized and exploited in films like 1978. Beautiful baby And the instantly famous Calvin Klein ads two years later. She was an obedient daughter to her mother and her manager. Terrywhose alcoholism made their close relationship indescribably complicated. She smiled for the cameras when they followed her to Princeton University in 1985 and asked her (as if that were their business) about being a virgin. Young Brooke Shields was a master of excellence and kindness.
As she grew older, she continued to shine but used her voice more defiantly – most notably in 2005. New York Times Editorial response to Tom Cruise's Attack on her use of antidepressants During postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter, Rawan. She has shown off her comedic chops in four seasons of her NBC sitcom, Suddenly SusanAnd multiple Broadway shows. Published two New York Times Best-selling memoirs.
Then she had the audacity to do something (seemingly) unexpected: she kept getting older. Although her confidence and joy have increased as she has gotten older – she will turn 60 this spring – she writes in her new book: Brooke Shields isn't allowed to get old:Thoughts about aging as a woman (On sale Tuesday, January 14), “I began to notice that external perceptions didn't seem to match my internal sense of self. My industry was no longer receiving me with the same enthusiasm as I had expected. The vibe among casting agents and producers, as well as my fans, was more: You need to Stopping time… and maybe even reversing it.
To borrow a phrase from her book, it is. Frustrated with being “ignored at the moment when I felt like I was at my peak,” she writes, she added a new entry to her resume in 2024: founder and CEO of Commence, an online community and hair care brand designed for women over 40.
Brooke Shields is an accomplished actress, model, and author, but her most beloved work is being a mother. The Suzanne Suddenly alum shares daughters Rowan (born May 2003) and Greer (born April 2006) with husband Chris Henchy, whom she married in 2001. Although the New York native often shares cheerful updates about[…]
“The more I was expected to be invisible, to make no demands or to vanish, so that I could be frozen in time as a specific (read: younger) version of Brooke Shields, the more fully my intention became,” she wrote. To stand tall and take up space like the woman I am. The star formerly known as America's Sweetheart is speaking out we About entering into its power.
The book begins with you and your daughters, Rawan, now 21, and Greer, 18, walking down the street and realizing people are staring at them, not you. Tells we About that.
The struggles we feel – they hit you all at once. There's such protection, such pride and joy, and then it's a reflection of what you're no longer, artistically speaking. And I'm not saying there's envy or jealousy, but it's a restructuring: they start their journey when you reach a level that will hopefully be (more) happy and peaceful but it comes with a lot of charged emotions.
It's the perfect setup for something she writes later in the book: “When men stop noticing you, it's a pretty good indicator of how the world as a whole treats you.”
For me, I think anyone who has a daughter in particular can relate to: Oh my God, I'm not like that anymore. What is my value now?
You talk about learning how to use invisibility to your advantage – allowing people to underestimate you and then taking advantage of that.
If you don't get angry at it and don't find a way to harness it, it's a tool. It's funny, my daughters are all right about these things: “How can you say that, mom?” I'll say, “My ego has no problem playing this game. I weaken my opponent into thinking I'm incapable. I've found it to be a source of definite strength and power.”
I used to apologize or start with “I may be wrong, but…” or “Do you think it's possible…?” I don't have to be weak anymore. And then I don't have to end it with, “But you know better.”
How have you learned how to navigate these conversations?
You can defer and be respectful. I often say, “This is your area of expertise, and I don't claim to know a percentage of what you do, but in my opinion…” and then I'm a little on the same page, and I don't feel like it. I have to belittle myself for expressing something, when I think I was afraid to have an opinion.
Many women feel more comfortable and confident in their 40s and 50s. Why is there this idea that middle-aged women are completely miserable?
Because they told us we were miserable. So, if you look at the nature of commercials, it's always, “Do you have dry skin? Do you have dry skin?” Are you this? Whom wom. That's the narrative, the beauty company or the drug company or whatever, they're going to come in and solve all your problems for you. Because if you're happy, what if you don't need dry skin cream? So this is the whole conspiracy that we've been fed.
Brooke Shields.
Deborah FeingoldThis is absolutely true.
Yes, (aging) has its downsides, but we are no longer chasing something: we should have children at this age, we should get married, we should finish college. There are many decades in which we are trying to reach the next stage. And then there is a transformation.
Once the pressure is relieved, older women are better able to express themselves, she notes: “We can push boundaries when we move through the world without everyone's watchful eyes.”
This does not mean that I am less ambitious. However, maybe I'm more ambitious because I feel like I deserve it more. I still feel afraid. I still feel stressed out because I'm not good enough. I still have to force myself to move forward, (but) we have become unignorable. We're a pretty massive team, and I think that's a little scary for everyone.
She takes care of her children. Brooke Shields has been candid about her initial reaction to her 17-year-old daughter Greer's interest in modeling. “The rules have changed since I was a[model].” I fought that for a long time. “It's a different industry now than it was,” Shields, 58, explained during an appearance on Live With Kelly and[…]
It takes a different kind of strength to allow yourself the grace of rejection — for example, you turned down an invitation to perform alongside Broadway's Cynthia Erivo and Susan Boyle. Britain's got talent. How do you decide when to say “no” to what seems — to others, at least — a golden opportunity?
There's a sense of healthy humility, why would you want to do this to yourself? It's not like that, I'm “less than” as a person, but it's impossible for my abilities to reach theirs. I thought if I was good enough, I would at least go and hold my own, and that would be an accomplishment in itself. But you have to say, “I don't want to have that feeling in my stomach that I'm sure I'm going to have.”
She devoted a class to becoming an empty nester as her first class, and then two daughters left for Wake Forest University in North Carolina. “My girls have a lot of skills that I never had,” she writes. Have you worked on guiding them to stay away from habits you don't like about yourself, such as people pleasing?
I have one who makes people very happy, and I have a younger one who talks about right and wrong, and it doesn't matter what people think. She is very strong in her opinions. And even her reactions – I'll say, “Aren't you embarrassed?” She says: “No. No, I'm not. She's 18, and she'll probably feel differently. My eldest child does this already, and I don't know if it's age, birth order, or something else – we're the most similar, in our way of life and our actions.
I'm so proud that I made room for them to be able to contradict me, express their feelings, and not be afraid of being judged. And I'm ok if I don't agree with them. They have different ways of expressing it to me.
One thing that stands out about you the most is how much of your life has been documented. What is it like to look back and see the girl you once were, who was under so much scrutiny?
I have such empathy. My heart kind of swells for her and her desperate, desperate need to protect her mother and take care of everything. I felt like this is what I was going to do.
And today?
I see myself now (at Commence headquarters), and I never aspired to be in a position like this. I think about the Zoom I had this morning with one of our investors, and how clear you were about that; How were you in treatment an hour ago? How do I move around with my children? How can I help my husband with something? And you see all these different lines of the woman's wheel, you know? There is pride, because I don't give up if no one loves me anymore. I mean, yeah, it feels a little hurt, but I sit and think, I don't even know if I respect you, so why should I worry so much about you liking me?
