Brooke Shields: Why arent we allowed to be sexy in our 50s?

May 01, 2024

Brooke Shields has had a tough but exciting year. In January, Brooke broke her femur in a gym incident that required her to undergo several surgeries during the height of Covid. The surgeries left her with a staph infection that required her to be hospitalized for several weeks. Brooke said she had to relearn how to walk but avoided taking opiods. Brooke is in a new Netflix romcom, A Castle for Christmas, and she is launching her own lifestyle brand called Beginning is Now. Brooke started Beginning is Now because she got tired of the messaging that women are only sexy in their youth. In an interview with The Today Show, Brooke discussed her upbringing as a child actress, going to Princeton, her complicated relationship with her overprotective mom, and her new lifestyle brand. Here are a few highlights. The interview is embedded below:

On being grounded as a young adult
You have to have this sixth sense for people and for BS. I always went to school, I never moved up to LA. Not being surrounded by people in the industry gave me a bit of perspective.

Her mom protected her
She was hated because no one could get near me, but she also taught me manners, ethics, raised me as good Catholic girl. That kind of work ethic makes you say ‘I’m going to just keep going.’

On going to Princeton
It didn’t occur to me not to go. I had been working for so long [that] by then it was almost like a vacation. I didn’t think about [my career] because thankfully I was in for a real shock after college.

On her lifestyle brand ‘Beginning is Now’
I feel stronger, I feel sexier. Why aren’t we allowed to be sexy in our 50s? Why is it 20s or Depends? Why can’t we be celebrated for what our next chapter is. The women that I know are self sufficient, they’re not looking to be saved by anybody. They say ‘what’s next, this can’t be it? I’m not done.’

[From The Today Show on YouTube]

It really is good seeing Brooke Shields again. I plan to watch her new movie A Castle for Christmas. My mom watched it over the weekend and loved it. I had been tracking Brooke’s recovery from her broken femur. It was so hard to watch her learn how to walk again but it was awe inspiring to see how strong and determined Brooke was in her recovery. I find it fascinating that Brooke went to Princeton. I also thought it was interesting that she felt that going to an Ivy League School was like a vacation from her life as a model and actress. I am sure being a star from damn near birth must have been taxing.

I agree with her that women get sexier as they age (at least I feel sexier). In fact, right before I watched this interview my mom, my friend Cindy and I were discussing how a lot of women in the industry mess up their faces and bodies trying to maintain this image of eternal youth instead of just embracing the side of themselves that aging illuminates. It is sad that women are made to feel that they must remain spring chickens to be desirable. I do not put this sort of stress on myself and at forty-five, I have embraced aging (but I hate those damn creaky joints). I hope that we will continue to see Brooke. My spidey senses are telling me that Brooke is primed for a midlife comeback. And why not?

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