Brooke Shields reveals her daughters are behind her sexy swimsuit photos: 'They've given me such confidence'

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Brooke Shields causes an internet frenzy whenever she posts a photo of herself in a swimsuit.

But the 53-year-old actress and model tells Yahoo Entertainment that those photos of her beach body on Instagram are never her idea. They’re the handiwork of her two daughters with producer husband Chris Henchy: Rowan, 15, and Grier, 13.

Brooke Shields works hard to look this good. (Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
Brooke Shields works hard to look this good. (Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
Brooke Shields poses with her confidence-boosting daughters Grier Henchy, left, and Rowan Henchy. (Photo: Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)
Brooke Shields poses with her confidence-boosting daughters Grier Henchy, left, and Rowan Henchy. (Photo: Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)

“My daughters are always like, ‘Mom, you work so hard. Why don’t you ever post?’” Shields told Yahoo Entertainment on Tuesday. “I’m like, ‘It’s weird.’ If I’m in an ad, I can do that. I feel like it’s a job, then I can do it, but to just post pictures of myself. … My two daughters are like, ‘Mom, it’s good for you to be seen like this. You look good in your bathing suit,’ and they’ve given me such confidence to sort of be a little bit more of an exhibitionist.”

Shields said she works hard for the results we see in her photos. The recurring Jane the Virgin guest star stopped drinking alcohol, upped her workouts with her trainer and trained “like an athlete” prepping for the Olympics for the stunning 2018 photos she took for the online retailer Swimsuits for All. She wants people to understand that she doesn’t get the beach body people rave about without a lot of sweat.

Now she’s the spokeswoman for body-contouring laser treatment SculpSure, whose new campaign slogan is “Be strong. Be sexy. Be confident.”

Shields said having the option to treat areas that she couldn’t change with her workouts made her feel “freer and more confident.”

She compared SculpSure to a spice, something that “can bring out the absolute best in this dish.”

Shields admitted that she still sometimes struggles with body image.

“I will say that, at times, it’s hard not to try to live up to what you think other people expect of you. And if you’ve been labeled a supermodel and you’ve been told you’re this and all of a sudden, you know, you’re 53, and you don’t look like you did when you were 15. Is that disappointing [to everyone]?” Shields said. “How do you reconcile [that] without feeling, ‘Oh, I’m letting people down’? It takes inner confidence to say, ‘I’m working hard. I’m so proud of where I’ve come from. I’m proud that I have two kids, I work.’… It took me a long time before I stopped comparing myself to other people, you know, and I think that that’s a huge step.”

Her healthy approach to body image is something she wants her daughters to learn from her, and she tries to set a good example.

“In my household, I have to walk the walk as well. They see me working out. They know that it’s important to me,” Shields said. “They know that I try and I care about myself, and they also know I give myself a break and enjoy my life.”

Shields said the most important thing she wants to give her girls is “the encouragement to keep working on feeling their best.”

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