Brooke Shields was once “not ready” to begin her empty nest era — but that was then and this is now.
On Jan. 16, the 59-year-old “Suddenly Susan” actress revealed her honest opinion about life in an empty nest during an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
“I’m an empty nester. Then, they came home for Christmas,” Shields says of her two daughters, Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18 — both of whom attend Wake Forest University.
“It was great, and then, I couldn’t wait for them to leave,” Shields admitted. “I was so sad when they left the first time. Then, at the end of Christmas, I’m like, ‘Don’t you have to get back to school?’”
Shields’ shocking, yet relatable confession comes less than one year after she spoke to People magazine about not knowing what to expect when her daughters leave.
“I’ll see if when I get there, but I think I’m going to be even…the thought of no longer living 24/7 in the house with these people that I’ve raised, it’s just very foreign,” she told the outlet.
To help her get through the emotions, Shields asked her younger daughter to give her a “grace period” so she can “get introduced” to the woman she’s becoming.
“I only know you as doing what I say you should do. And you’re not a baby anymore,” Shields said of the grace period. “And I need a little bit of time to re-acclimate to you as the young woman.”
In an interview with “The Jess Cagle Show” in May, Shields further admitted that she fully expects her daughters to return home at some point.
“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,” she quipped.
She also joked that she might have to start charging her daughters rent when they do return.
Despite early doubts, Shields describes empty nesting as ‘fabulous’
Shields, who released her newest memoir “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old” on Jan. 14, has had plenty to say about her new lifestyle as she continues her book tour.
In a conversation with SHE Media CEO Samantha Skey at an event sponsored by Flow Space, Shields described why she isn’t a fan of the term “empty nest.”
“You picture this dry little twiggy [nest] with some broken eggs in it,” she explained, describing it as an “adjustment.”
“Your kids are gone. You have to re-meet your partner, you have to re-establish who you are in yourself, and it’s a period of adjustment,” she added.
Despite that, Shields says being an empty nester is “fabulous.”
“I got past all the crying, I got past all the missing them, and then there was just this sense of freedom,” she says. “It’s not ‘Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom,’ all the time.”
Instead, Shields is putting all that energy into other needs — all while enjoying the Facetimes and phone calls she receives from her daughters.
“I love that when they come home, you know, they’re still like, ‘Can we sleep in your bed? Can we watch a movie?’ It’s come full circle in a really nice way,” she adds.