Brooke Shields Says She Was Mom's 'World,' Wants Her Girls to Know She's 'Not Their Responsibility'
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Brooke Shields is opening up about how she and her mother differ in their parenting styles.
While speaking to People(the TV Show!) correspondent Segun Oduolowu, the 56-year-old actress explained how she and her two daughters, Rowan, 18, and Grier, 16, have a different relationship than she did with her own mother.
Shields, who shares her girls with husband Chris Henchy, says her mom's "whole world revolved" around her when she was growing up — something she doesn't want to happen with her daughters.
"I'm thankful that [my mom] really supported me in college when I was homesick and said, 'You're not a quitter, don't give up, you'll never forgive yourself.' But I watched her slowly not know who she was without me," says Shields. "I want my daughters to know that I am fully me, I am not their responsibility."
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"I carried the responsibility of keeping my mother alive," she continues. "It became not healthy in a sense because there was no independence for either of us."
"I made a real concerted effort to make sure that my girls didn't have that fear when they were alone," adds Shields.
The Blue Lagoon star also revealed her thoughts on being an empty nester.
Brooke Shields/Instagram Brooke Shields and daughter Rowan
"I'm not ever going to get used to her being gone," she says of her daughter Rowan, who is wrapping up her first year at Wake Forest University. "She's going to be married with her own children, and I'm still not going to be used to her being gone."
"She came home last weekend because it was Grier's 16th birthday, so she came home for that. And it was just as hard saying goodbye to her yesterday," Shields admits.
"She's really living her life, she's enjoying college, she's just really blossoming and growing. I listen to the way they talk to each other and their friends and the things they're discussing, and you think, 'Wow, she's really her own person and I've done my best in my job and I'm going to try to get out of her way,' " she says. "Even though I want her to live with me for the rest of her life."
