Body Positivity
Brooke Shields Opens Up On How Her Daughters Helped Her To Accept And Love Her Body And Age
The model feels more secure about herself and her body.
The beauty became a star at an early age and effectively grew up in the spotlight. Brooke Shields was regularly voted one of the most beautiful women; she appeared in popular movies, and most girls just wanted to be like her. However, it’s now, at age 57, that the actress has learned to accept and love herself; thanks to her two beautiful daughters, Grier and Rowan.
Accordingly, Brooke has chosen to worry less about what other people think, and as she’s recovering emotionally, she says she feels much better than ever.
With being seen as one of the most beautiful, the model had resorted to various tricks to avoid being a threat to other women. Brooke behaved modestly, sometimes made fun of herself, shied away, and ensured her kindness toward men wasn’t seen as flirting. But gradually, these tricks turned into a complex that caused her self-esteem to plummet.
Thankfully, Brooke’s self-perception has changed, and it has to do with her body.
When she gets asked how she feels about herself and her body in her 50s, Brooke replies honestly, saying she’s eternally grateful to her body for allowing her to have children, as well as for being strong during illness and surgeries. She insisted that it’s her gratitude for her body that permits her to look and feel the way she does.
She further alleged that the appreciation for her body, acceptance, and sense of self didn’t come out of anywhere; it’s all thanks to her daughters.
“I don’t think there’s any shame.” There’s no shame in being older and getting older. There’s a sense of pride, and I think that comes with it. But I don’t want to wait for that pride to look like ancient wisdom. You know, I’m not stopping a thing I love doing. Yes. “I’m limited in a lot of the physical activity, but I’m still going,” Broke said in an interview with NPR.
She continued: “I want that message to be out there because I want, especially women over a certain age, in their 50s, to feel like they are at a new beginning.”
Brooke confidently stated she’d watched her girls and their confidence; as a result, decided to look at herself differently. She saw how comfortable Rowan and Grier were in their bodies, and it made the model accept all the changes in her body and start to feel better than ever. The complete acceptance didn’t only make her radiant but also an inspiration.
Brooke has quite a wonderful relationship with her daughters and calls them her greatest love and pride.
Meanwhile, the model got married to tennis player Andre Agassi [pictured below] in 1997, when she was 32. But it didn’t last long, as Andre filed for divorce before their second anniversary. Right after it was finalized, he got together with another famous tennis player. At the time, Brooke was reportedly devastated but soon found a new love.
The year, 2001, saw the model get married for the second time, to screenwriter, director, and producer Chris Henchy.
Brooke and Henchy were happy together and decided to have children. But everything wasn’t so easy. The beauty got pregnant countless times, but problems followed. She opened up about being treated for infertility and how she suffered multiple miscarriages before giving birth to her first daughter, Rowan, in 2003. She was 37 years old at the time. Shortly after, Brooke was hit by severe postpartum depression and coped with it with the help of strong antidepressants and therapy.
To also cope with her depression, the model wrote a book about what it was like to become a mother, titled: “Down Came The Rain.”
Brooke welcomed her second daughter in April 2006 and named her Grier. The postpartum depression was far behind her, and she worked hard on becoming a good and loving mom. For this, the model gave some credit to the therapy she underwent after Rowan’s birth and alleged it was comforting when her obstetrician said her feelings of extreme despair were directly tied to a biochemical shift in her body.