Not to sound overtly feminist, but, unlike men, women that dare to voice their opinions and not to be invisible, are often labeled \u201cdifficult,\u201d \u201cpushy,\u201d \u201coverbearing, \u201cangry,\u201d \u2026 you fill in the blanks. To be liked or respected, most women feel they have to be polite, support and not rock the boat by sharing their thoughts. Curiously, when men speak up they are \u201cknowledgeable,\u201d \u201cauthorities,\u201d \u201cstrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
When this feeling of becoming invisible is shared by someone who appeared on over 750 magazine covers and built a career of not being invisible, you know there\u2019s something to this notion.<\/p>\n
Her name is Brooke Shields \u2026<\/p>\n
A Bold New Voice for Aging<\/h3>\n
Brooke Shields has lived much of her life in the public eye \u2014 from baby model to breakout film star, and now a bold voice for aging, healing, and self-empowerment. At 59, she\u2019s once again rewriting her narrative, not with a script or camera, but with a powerful new memoir and a mission to redefine what it means to age with purpose and pride.<\/p>\n
A Childhood on Display<\/h3>\n
Born in Manhattan, New York City, Shields was the daughter of Teri Shields \u2014 an actress and model who later became her agent \u2014 and Francis Alexander Shields, a business executive with Revlon, Est\u00e9e Lauder, and other successful ventures. Her parents divorced when she was just five months old. Both parents are deceased. Her mother died in 2012 and her father in 2003.<\/p>\n
Shields\u2019s journey began almost before she could speak. At just 11 months old, she was signed to a modeling contract, and by age 12, she had sparked global attention \u2014 and debate \u2014 for her role in the controversial film Pretty Baby<\/em><\/a> (1978), where she portrayed a child living in a New Orleans brothel. The film stirred ethical questions about the boundaries of art and exploitation, making Shields a symbol of the complex intersection of youth and fame.<\/p>\n Through the early \u201980s, she starred in emotionally charged coming-of-age films like The Blue Lagoon<\/em><\/a> and Endless Love<\/em><\/a>, solidifying her status as a teen idol. Yet even then, there was a sense that forces outside her control were shaping her public image.<\/p>\n Shields has appeared on over 750 magazine covers from her first one at age 10 (November 1975) for American Home.\u00a0<\/em>She was the youngest model to appear on Vogue at age 14 in 1980 and 1981 for\u00a0Cosmopolitan.<\/em><\/span>\u00a0She also graced the covers of Life<\/em>, Rolling Stone<\/em>, Seventeen<\/em>, Elle<\/em>, New York Magazine<\/em>, Harper\u2019s Bazaar<\/em>, Vanity Fair<\/em>, and Muppet Magazine<\/em>, among others. She was the darling of Vogue <\/em>but rare for a teen, <\/em>appearing on multiple covers, including three consecutive months in 1984 (October to December) and four in 1983 (September, October, November for American Vogue<\/em>, and December for Italian Vogue<\/em>).<\/p>\n Instead of letting Hollywood dictate her future, Shields made a surprising move: she left the spotlight to attend Princeton University. There, she studied Romance Languages, graduated with honors, and carved space for an identity beyond the screen. Her years at Princeton helped her emerge as a more grounded and articulate version of herself, one who could navigate fame with greater self-awareness.<\/p>\n Despite a picture-perfect public image, Shields has faced deeply personal struggles \u2014 many of which remained hidden for years. In her 2005 book Down Came the Rain<\/em><\/a>, she courageously spoke out about her battle with postpartum depression, helping destigmatize a condition many were afraid to name.<\/p>\n But even more startling were revelations in her recent memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old<\/em><\/a>. In it, she recounts being sexually assaulted by a powerful Hollywood figure early in her career \u2014 an experience she buried for decades. By bringing this trauma to light, Shields joins a wave of women using their voices to challenge long-standing power imbalances in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n Having broken her silence about personal trauma, Shields now turns her focus to another societal blind spot: how we treat aging women.<\/p>\n Now in her late 50s, Shields is taking on another taboo: aging. Her new book isn\u2019t just a memoir \u2014 it\u2019s a manifesto. With unflinching honesty and humor, she details the physical and emotional changes that come with growing older and how society often sidelines women once they reach a certain age. Shields rejects this narrative. Instead, she celebrates aging as a process of becoming, not diminishing.<\/p>\n The book\u2019s title itself \u2014 Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old<\/em> <\/a>\u2014 captures the impossible standards women face, particularly in industries obsessed with youth. But Shields is pushing back, encouraging women everywhere to own their age, stories, and strength.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we are no longer deemed sexy or able to contribute to society by birthing and raising young children, our value diminishes,\u201d Shields said. \u201cWe are overlooked, ignored, or worse, not seen at all \u2026 I may not be playing the ingenue or the girl next door or even the first love, but I\u2019m not exactly the grandmother in Titanic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In her book, Shields shares anecdotes of how she evolved from the little girl who didn\u2019t think for herself, mainly thanks to the omnipresence of her mother, who was also her manager from the beginning at 11 months old in an ad for Ivory Soap.<\/p>\n While tasting French onion soup, she recalls asking her mother, \u201cDo I like this?\u201d \u2014 a moment that underscored how little autonomy she had \u2014 even over her own preferences.<\/p>\n \u201cAs girls, we\u2019re taught to be polite, to comply, to defer,\u201d Shields said. \u201cAt least, that\u2019s what was drilled into me from a young age. If we don\u2019t, we\u2019re \u201cdifficult. . .It\u2019s not that we\u2019re angry, but we\u2019re also done walking on eggshells so that nobody, God forbid, thinks <\/em>we\u2019re angry.\u201d<\/p>\n In her memoir, Shields recounts confronting an anesthesiologist just moments before surgery \u2014 a vivid example of her hard-won confidence. Reacting to the anesthesiologist who said to her, \u201cWhen God was handing out good luck, you got your fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n She retorted, \u201cYeah, guess you and I have different definitions of luck\u201d and gave him a litany of \u201cunlucky\u201d moments in her life as she is about to have surgery (!) from an alcoholic mother, divorced parents by 5 months, kidnap threats, stalkers\u2026\u201d She then fired back with \u201cI\u2019m surprised you don\u2019t walk with a limp. Must be hard to walk straight with that huge chip on your shoulder!,\u201d leaving the masked nurses in the room wide-eyed and bobbing up and down with laughter.<\/p>\n The little girl who starred in Pretty Baby<\/em> has grown into a woman unafraid to speak her mind \u2014 and claim her space.<\/p>\n Her new book addresses many issues that women \u201cof a certain age\u201d confront. She discusses menopause, the importance of a few best friends in later years, the joys and sadness of the empty nester whose two daughters went off to college, sex, and the middle-aged woman and reflects on what might have been \u2013 and how to make peace with life\u2019s choices. She also addresses marital relations and how she has maintained a healthy, happy relationship with her husband, Chris Henchy, a successful producer and screenwriter, for 24 years.<\/p>\n Beyond her writing, Shields is expanding her reach with new business ventures aimed at women over 40. At age 59, when many women wouldn\u2019t think to start a new business, she started a haircare line, Commence, to address age-related hair texture and thinning changes. The brand springboarded from her discussions with women on her lifestyle podcast.<\/p>\n Shields continues to speak publicly about women\u2019s health, body image, and wellness. Her role as a brand ambassador for several health initiatives reflects her growing influence as a champion for aging well \u2014 and living fully.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s the deal: I\u2019m never going to retire,\u201d Shields said. \u201cFirst of all, I have a life to maintain. One that I\u2019ve set up, and that I love, but it comes with college tuitions and mortgages and costs that I need to cover. But also, and this is a biggie. I love my work. I like being creative and trying new things and making people laugh and working with other actors. \u201c<\/p>\n Brooke Shields has been many things: child star, Ivy League graduate, model, mother, and advocate. But perhaps her most powerful role is the one she plays today \u2014 that of a woman reclaiming her story, speaking up not just for herself, but for generations of women taught to stay silent, smile brightly, and never grow old.<\/p>\n Now, she\u2019s doing it all \u2014 unapologetically, gracefully, and entirely on her own terms. And in doing so, she offers a powerful message to women everywhere: your story isn\u2019t over \u2014 it\u2019s just getting started.<\/p>\n For readers navigating their own midlife transitions, Shields offers more than inspiration \u2014 she offers a mirror. Her honesty about aging, identity, and reinvention challenges outdated notions of what life after 50 should look like and encourages women to keep writing their next chapter \u2026and to find their own voice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Inspirational memoir on being invisible no more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201,202],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2025","category-spring-summer-2025-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16148"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16362,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16148\/revisions\/16362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Princeton and the Pursuit of Self<\/h3>\n
![\"Brooke](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/COVER_Brooke-Shields-650.jpg\")
<\/a>Battles Behind the Scenes<\/h3>\nThe Fight Against Ageism<\/h3>\n
Middle Age, Maximum Impact<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A New Chapter, On Her Terms<\/strong><\/h3>\n
More Than a Survivor \u2014 A Voice<\/strong><\/h3>\n
(Clockwise from top right). Brooke Shields on Seventeen Magazine cover, October 1978. Photo: Amazon.com<\/a>; arriving at the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Los Angeles, February 2025. Photo: Deposit Photos; on Vogue Magazine cover, December 1987, Photo: Amazon.com<\/a>; with Bob Hope and country music singer Barbara Mandrell during “Bob Hope’s High Flying Birthday Extravaganza,” a television show celebrating comedian Bob Hope’s 84th birthday, May 1987, Photo: Dave McLeod, U.S. Air Force, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons; public service ad for the American Lung Association, photo by Francesco Scavullo, 1981. Photo: Wikimedia Commons; with Air Force pilot Capt. Paul Johnson in a parade car during the Welcome Home celebration honoring the men and women who served in Desert Storm, NYC, June 1991. Photo: MSGT, Don Wetterman, public domain, Wikimedia Commons.<\/h5>\n
Healthy Aging\u00ae\u00a0Magazine cover photo: Deborah Feingold<\/h5>\n