Brooke Shields Reveals She’s Officially an ‘Empty Nester’ in an Emotional New Video
Brooke Shields’ youngest daughter has flown the nest, and now the emotional mama is left wallowing in her tears. OK, OK, that might be a smidge dramatic — but still. The Pretty Baby star is feeling a little vulnerable right now that both of her daughters with husband Chris Henchy are going to college, and she made a sweet (and totally relatable!) new video about it. Grab the tissues, because this will hit you right where it hurts!
“OK, so, I sat here a year ago, and I watched my big girl leave,” Shields says in the clip, referring to her eldest daughter Rowan, 21. “And I’m back on this porch, and I am now officially an empty nester,” she continues, looking up at the camera with tears in her eyes.
“And my little girl,” Shields says, referring to her youngest daughter Grier, 18. She had to stop to cry, barely able to get through the video. “They’re together at least,” she added. “But it’s really not… it’s not easy for the moms.”
Shields took off her glasses to wipe her eyes. “I mean, it’s just so weird. So weird that she’s not here. It was really hard and then she started crying, and then I really started crying, and then I cried a good portion of the ride home.”
The Mother of the Bride star captioned the tear-jerking video: “Both of my baby birds have left the nest ????????????.”
People could feel her pain, and they sent her words of encouragement. Melissa Joan Hart commented, “True words! It’s so hard on the moms when our babies fly off but if we did our job, that’s the goal! ❤️❤️”
“Oh Brooke it’s so so hard,” Debra Messing commented. “It’s the end of an era and now you get to start a new chapter. But first you have to cry. A lot. I laid on my couch for 3 weeks and couldn’t speak to anyone. Be tender with yourself. It’s hard because it’s hard. All us empty nesters are sending you love.❤️”
Another wrote, “You’re a great mom and you have taught them to grow their wings! It’s our job to help them gain independence but we don’t have to like it!!! All the feels for you today but don’t worry girls are always need their mama ;)”
Two years ago, Shields shared a similarly emotional tribute to Grier when she left for college. “Turns out second time is NOT the charm when it comes to your baby going off to college,” The Blue Lagoon star captioned a video. “Sophomore year, here she comes. I’ll be crying if you need me… ????❤️”
“So I just had to wave my daughter goodbye again,” she said. “And I thought it would be easier the second time.”
“She’s driving with her dad,” Shields continued. “But she’s taking my car, which was my car as my graduation present car, and so she going to be driving that and I said, ‘it was just too painful.’ I don’t think I could go through the driving away from campus again. So if there’s anybody else going through this…We’re all in it together. Ugh, it’s so hard. I miss her already.”
During a May appearance on The Jess Cagle Show, Shields opened up about the anxiety she had about this fall. “People will say to me, ‘Oh, you’re gonna be so relieved,’ and I just don’t see it happening,” she said. “I don’t see it happening. I was like, ‘Well, they’re still gonna come back,’ and by the way, the cost of just living in this city is so prohibitive anyways that it may work in my favor.”
You just gotta look on the positive side!
These celeb parents have gotten very real about their kids growing up.