Brooke Shields Shares Surprising Confession About Being an Empty Nester

Mar. 15, 2025

Rowan Francis Henchy, Brooke Shields and Grier Hammond Henchy (left to right).Photo:Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Brooke Shieldsis adjusting to her life as an empty nester.

On Thursday, Jan. 16, the actress, 59, opened up onThe Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallonabout her experience since her two daughters, Rowen, 21, and Grier, 18, who she shares with husband Chris Henchy, left for college.

“I’m an empty nester. Then, they came home for Christmas,” she began. “It was great, and then, I couldn’t wait for them to leave.”

“I was so sad when they left the first time,” Shields continued. “Then, at the end of Christmas, I’m like ‘Don’t you have to get back to school?'”

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Brooke Shields, Chris Henchy, and daughters Rowan and Grier.Brooke Shields/Instagram

Brooke Shields/Instagram

When both of Shields’ daughters headed off to college she toldPEOPLE in an exclusive interviewthat she was “not ready” for them to leave.

“I thought I would be relieved, but I don’t know,” she said. “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. It’s like going to a totally foreign territory.”

Brooke Shields and her daughters Rowen and Grier.Brooke Shields/Instagram

Shields asked her younger daughter to give her a “grace period” when she first left for college. She underwent an adjustment period, as she reconnected with her.

Although she’s an empty nester now, Shields still believes they will return home after college.

source: people.com