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Brooke Shields is fighting back at ageism and promoting body positivity at all stages of your life. She also encouraged women over 50 to never stop loving yourself. The actress explains how she found confidence in her own skin.
In a recent interview with People, the 55-year-old actress explained that as she got older she was doing things to start hiding her body. “I was wearing those big bathing suits that had as much fabric as possible,” she told the outlet. ”My daughters were like, ‘Mom, it’s ridiculous.’ It was sort of seeing myself through their eyes and just celebrating things like my butt. Things I just would never want to focus on in my life. Being 55 and saying ‘Wait a minute, women over 50 are not done.’”
Shields isn’t letting her age stop her. She thinks she is just getting started.” If you’re that age, especially if you are an actress, it’s like ‘you’ve had your career, relax,’ but I think I’m just starting” she explained.
Shields shared that her relationship with her body was always tied to her acting career. “The camera is not always kind” she explained. “I used to get fit doing Broadway shows eight times a week but I always did it for the show or for the job because the camera is not always kind,” says Brooke. “So there was a vanity reason. I never knew I could find a place of peace that did not deal with outside appearances.” “I was never skinny,” she notes. “I was always athletic which means you don‘t fit in the sample sizes.”
“I wasn‘t in touch with my body, it was not something I looked at,” she explained. “I almost didn’t want to know it existed. There was this virginity complex and then I was a model, mostly covers, so it was sort of neck up. All about the face and eyebrows. My way of approaching the subject was just not to think about it.”
“I was in dance class and the teacher used to say ‘Shields, why don’t you look at yourself?’ and I said ’I don’t need to look at myself. Everybody does that enough.’ He said ’Well, you’re going to fall flat on your ass if you don’t.”
Reclaiming the relationship with her body
Shield’s continued and explained that her daughters have helped her positively see her body and helped her reclaim how she describes it. “My daughters say I‘m curvy. To them curvy is different. I watch them celebrate it. I’m learning from them and they always say you’re better off with something that shows your body rather than a muumuu.”
With her daughter’s advice, Shields began posting bikini pictures on social media. Her biceps and abs were impressive at any age. Something she works hard for. “Listen, I work hard at it. Every day, this summer I worked out. I kind of earned my confidence. I’m still going to get the right angle, mind you... And lighting.”
Shields started sharing her quirky workout routines during quarantine to help people work out at home instead of the gym. “They‘re just accessible, and a way to have movement and endorphins. It’s funny to do arm presses with two bottles of wines. We don’t all have our fancy gyms at the moment but I can guarantee, if you do something for five minutes, it will be a positive.”
Shields shared that along with her daughters, her trainer Ngo Okafar helped her understand the meaning of body positivity. “My trainer said every day in the gym there are women in the best shape possible and they’ll walk by the mirror and say ‘Ugh, look at that.’ And a guy will come by with a belly, and go ‘Yeah.’ He said ’You’ve been coming to the gym and you make yourself smaller. Stop it.’ He just had a baby girl and he said ‘I’m never going to tell my daughter to dim her light.’”
“He told me ‘You’ve started to believe all your self deprecation.’ And that was the basis for all my humor,” says Brooke. “And it was like you’re right. I don’t want my girls to do that. Just think of how great it would be if we can all feel this larger than life energy.”