Brooke Shields' Best Motherhood Quotes
Brooke Shields is an icon in so many ways. She’s a model, an actress, businesswoman, and a mother. That latter element of her life has left a huge impact on Shields. And she’d be the first to tell you. Over the years, Shields has become more and more forthcoming about the ways in which motherhood has forever changed her relationship to herself, her daughters, and her perspective on life. It’s for that reason alone that we’ve rounded up some of our favorite quotes by the star on motherhood.
Shields is the mother of daughters Rowan Francis Henchy, born in 2003, and Grier Hammond Henchy, born in April 2006. Throughout the years, Shields has been an active and supportive participant in their lives. It hasn’t always been easy, as any mother would know and understand. Shields has faced her own doubts and fears, but she’s always reconciled with them, looking for the happy moments and fulfilling milestones rather than indulging in the negative.
While Shields has surely taught her two daughters, whom she shares with husband of more than 20 years Chris Henchy, a lot, they’ve taught her a thing or two as well. And isn’t that what motherhood is all about? Imparting wisdom to your children, while they teach you something in return? Well, Shields has learned a lot from motherhood, so read on for some of her very best quotes about motherhood — we’re sure a few will resonate with you.
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On Teaching Her Daughters About the Male Gaze
When speaking with SHE Media CEO Sam Skey at Flow Space presents An Evening with Brooke Shields, the actress got candid about a controversial topic: The male gaze. Skey noted how she personally was sometimes “inconsistent” with how she acted when surrounded by men versus women.
“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Shields said. “I think there’s a certain strength in knowing how to navigate and when to use the gaze to be heard a little differently — to speak in a language that can be received.”
“My daughters would say, ‘That’s not feminist,'” Shields admitted. “And I’ll say, ‘Well, I kind of think it might be a radical type of feminism because we have this femininity. It has power [so] access it, use it.”
“I think it’s OK as long as you’re doing it for the right reason and it’s helping you be heard, fine! I told my daughter, ‘You want something? Make it your boyfriend’s idea [and it will happen].'”
On Taking Her Daughter to College
Nothing was more relatable than Shields’ heartfelt message after she dropped her eldest daughter, Rowan Francis Henchy, off at college in August 2021. “My unique and extraordinary baby girl spreading her wings. I love you so. We are so proud of you,” Shields wrote in her Instagram post.
“This was the saddest drive away from anywhere I’ve ever had to make. But my baby is BEGINNING one of the most important adventures of her life to date…NOW!” Talk about relatable!
On the Anxiety of Her Daughter Being Far Away
“It’s the worst, it’s the absolute worst. It was bad enough when she went to college, now she’s hours later and I can’t find her and I get pictures of her escapades,” she told Today while discussing her daughter Rowan’s study abroad.
The change was “hard to accept as a mom,” but Shields said she was coping in the most on-brand mom way possible. “I’ve got my [phone] locater on so I can find her. If I can’t get it, I find her, I’m like, ‘I can’t find you. Trust me, you want me to be able to find you, and then I’ll leave you alone,’” she said. We get the impulse!
On How She Wants Her Daughters To See Her
“As a mom, I want my daughters to know, listen, ‘I’m this age, but look at what I’ve done,’” Shields said during an appearance on Tamron Hall. “’Look how far I’ve come just in having babies and, you know, keeping a marriage going, and just being a friend, being a sister, being all these things. And it’s not over.’” Shields reminded us that motherhood is about so much more than how mothers see their children grow — it’s also about how they see their mothers grow, too.
On Raising Teens
Speaking about her teen daughters in an interview with Dax Shephard on the Armchair Expert podcast, Shields referred to her then-teens as “18 and a–hole. It’s so much fun,” she said of raising the girls. “[Grier] just FaceTimed me about this dress that she wants to buy, and I’m trying to tell her what is the best plan of action to get said dress … then I get a text saying, ‘I really don’t appreciate the way you talk to me.’” Raise your hand if you’ve been there!
On Admiring Her Own Daughters
As much as children learn from their parents, parents learn an awful lot from their kids, too. Shields expressed how much she’s learned from her daughters in an interview with People. “They are young women who are already beginning to find their own agencies. It took me until practically today.”
On Her Fear of Failure
“I’m terrified that I’m not really understanding who they are, and that maybe one day they won’t feel like they can come to me ― that I will somehow fail them … I don’t know if you overcome it,” she told Huffington Post in 2014.
“The way I try to get through it is by talking to other moms. Either someone will do something that’s seemingly worse, and I’ll think, ‘At least I didn’t do that,’ but then someone will do something better and I think, ‘I’ve gotta learn that, I’ve got to do that instead!’”
On What’s Most Important
“They’re not going to remember Mom was tired. They’re going to remember I did the weather chart or story time at school. So you just do it,” she told People in 2008. “And you’re tired,” explained Shields, who says “it’s the mundane stuff that is important.”
On Finding Power in Her Pregnancy
“I was never skinny [in the modeling world]. I was always told I was too big. When I got pregnant, and I had to feed this baby, and I had to be bigger, I finally started reveling in the fact that I had this body that was going to carry this thing,” she said at the WWD Wellness Summit.
“The first time I stepped outside of myself, and didn’t compare myself to other people — because when you’re in your mind, [in the modeling] industry, it’s all about comparison … Everything’s about what you’re not. It’s rarely [about] the way you [actually] are. [Pregnancy] was the first time that I actually [loved] all of my body, and then appreciated my face … And I think I always thought that beauty was an indulgence instead of a valued part of your existence.”
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