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When you think of a mother, you think about the warmth surrounding them, the wisdom, and, of course, the care that all mothers exude. And when you speak with the ever-so-iconic Brooke Shields, you can feel all of those traits radiate through. As a proud mother of two daughters, and an ongoing advocate for living your healthiest life, Shields is on a mission: to empower women over 50 to be their own biggest advocate.
Whether it comes to their mindset on aging or focusing on their health, Shields is working to help women realize how powerful they really are with each passing decade of life. As she nears the big 6-0, she’s using her star status to shift the conversation, and we’re all here for it.
In a recent conversation with SheKnows, Shields talked with us about shingles, handling mental health in the public eye, her mindset on aging, and how she talks about it all with her daughters. Along with that, for the event, the THRIVE@50+ influencer event in partnership with GSK, she also talks about health for women over 50, and how we need to advocate for ourselves.
When asked about what health challenges women over 50 should be aware of, she immediately talked about shingles and how prevalent it really is. “Anybody over 50 really is at a higher risk of getting shingles,” she said. “As we age, our immune system weakens. So we are more susceptible to something like shingles and GSK’s THRIVE@50+ campaign is all about educating and encouraging women, everyone actually, over 50 to ask their doctor and ask their pharmacist about their risk and about vaccination.”
For those who don’t know, shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash that can happen anywhere on your body. Along with a rash, some symptoms include a burning sensation, a sensitivity to touch, headaches, and sensitivity to light, to name a few. And if you’re over 50, you should go to the doctor ASAP, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
“This is crazy, [but] 99 percent of those 50 years and older already have the virus in their system. Not all of them will definitely develop shingles, but that’s a pretty crazy stat. It really is a debilitating, painful, lonely experience to go through,” Shields explained. “It’s interesting how people don’t really know about it. And it’s amazing how few of us really kind of knew about that.”
While growing older is full of possibilities and adventures, it also comes with some fears. Specifically, many face health-centric fears when they grow older. In fact, Statista Research Department did a survey in Feb 2024 that showed over 60 percent of people surveyed are afraid of declining health.
However, Shields is here to remind everyone that “50 is not old,” and that knowledge is the superpower against these fears.
“The beauty of being this age is that I’ve learned best to stay healthy. Just like I navigated puberty or perimenopause or menopause, it’s just you, [and] you become informed,” she said. “Being this age and looking forward to the future, a lot of it is proactivity advocacy for yourself and [being] health conscious. Because the more you know, the more powerful you’ll be because knowledge really is that kind of power.”
However, something else she wanted to stress is that getting older isn’t a bad thing, it’s a truly beautiful part of life. She truly believes this, and even teaches this mindset to her daughters, whom she shares with husband Chris Henchy — Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18. However, she doesn’t refer to it as “aging” with her daughters.
“I’m teaching my children: don’t be afraid,” she told SheKnows, detailing how she wants her kids to not be afraid of going to the doctor and growing older. “We don’t really talk about it as if it’s aging. We just talk about it as growth movement through certain challenges that we all just face. It’s so important to sort of demystify them and not have them be this big scary thing that’s waiting under the bed to devour you.”
She added, “You just have to be kind of open to the conversation and if there are fears, you try to really deal with the fears as not something to be a victim to, but something to be proactive about.”
She also talked about how she wants other young women not to be afraid of aging as well. With the rise of skincare videos, many young girls and even children are starting to fear aging, doing so much every day to stop wrinkles.
“We’ve put this message in that it’s the big bad wolf and it’s waiting around the corner for you and aging is terrible and, and you know, it’s not. With aging comes, there are challenges. Yes, there are health challenges, there are beauty challenges, all that, but they can be addressed, right?” The multi-hyphenate added, “But aging is a gift. It is a privilege. It is a gift.”
Say it louder for the people in the back! As she said, 50 is not old at all. Even though social media may try to put fear in us about aging, about growing older, Shields is all about breaking that stigma.
“When you get to a certain age, you realize how much you’ve done, but then you realize how much more there is and experience. I wanna say to them: You don’t have to chase youth, but do chase health,” she added. “There is beauty in aging because it shows a life really well lived. You can make it vibrant. Don’t be afraid of it and don’t try to look like everybody else or try to reverse aging.”
Now, speaking of social media, we know that social media can deeply affect one’s mental health. Mental health is a big part of our overall health, which is something Shields has always been a big advocate for. While her philosophy isn’t about her being the one to “give advice or dictate or preach,” she does do it by powerfully sharing her own experiences.
“I just share my experience. When you start sharing your experience, you become part of a community, and that type of community really fosters strength and allows people to not feel alone,” she reflected.
One big part about not feeling alone is advocating for yourself by asking questions to people you trust, whether it be friends, doctors, or more. She told us that, now more than ever, we need to focus on our health, and ask questions like “Can you please educate me so I can make proper decisions to maintain a healthy mental health?”
“Because the world is crazy. We’re all scared, we’re running ourselves into the ground. There’s so much fear and angst and all of that takes a toll. It weakens your immune system,” she said, really bringing it home that our health is the most important thing.
The actress, author, model, and proud mom of two is one of many working to change the conversation, to break the stigmas. The world is scary, it’s unexpected. but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try the best we can to prioritize our health, and the health of those we love.
Honestly, she said it perfectly when she dropped this truth bomb to us: “Mental health involves self-care, but it also involves not feeling shame or fear and ask for help.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
