Brooke Shields has recently talked about finding confidence and embracing sexiness at any age, according to PEOPLE.
On Monday, the 56-year-old told Yahoo! Life that she believes it is a “misconception” that a woman is no longer sexy after reaching a certain age.
She said, “The acceptance of our bodies comes at a later date. I live much more in my body now than I ever did. My body actually feels like it belongs to me. And I can’t say that about my youth.”
Shields also called another misconception that women who cannot conceive children “don’t seem to matter to the world. Because you do not keep the world going anymore,” adding, “there’s vitality in us. And I think that shows itself sexually.”
“It shows itself with an adventure,” she continued. “It shows itself in confidence. We walk into rooms now and kind of think, well, I got nothing to lose. There’s an uncomplicated nature to it. Confidence is the sexiest thing that I’ve ever encountered.”
Shields recently wore a bathing suit while visiting her family, explaining that, “I wanted to challenge myself. It was just this sort of celebration and doing something a little uncomfortable.”
The supermodel launched “Beginning Is Now” this year, which is a growing, global community of women of all ages finding strength, wisdom, optimism, humor, and so much more in each other. It serves as a self-care platform for women over 40.
Sharing her own experience with reaching the milestone, Shields explained, “Forty felt that, all of a sudden, I was an adult. Fertility was changing for me. It was difficult for me to have children. I did IVF seven times.”
“And my career, I was being told sort of, ‘Oh, you’re not viable once you’re 40,” she added. “We’re not at the end the way people are living now. We’re at a new beginning. And so I kept saying I just feel like I’m beginning. I just feel like I’m beginning.”
The Blue Lagoon actress also got candid about her sex life, sharing that how “it has really evolved” over the years.
She said, “My 20s, I was always terrified of it because I was a virgin until I was 22. You know, I thought I was committing an offense to humanity for being a Catholic, not married, and I had so much guilt. My 30s, it wasn’t really about being sexy. It was having your body work to create something. That was like a 10-year kind of journey.”
Explaining how her 40s were a turning point, Shields said, “And it wasn’t until my 40s that I started thinking of sex as my experience, not someone else’s experience that I just navigated. What I want my daughters to know is that it’s a joint decision. Even with as woke as everybody is, you’d be shocked at how they see themselves within relationships.”
Shields has daughters Rowan, 18, and Grier, 15, with husband Christopher Henchy. She said, “I don’t want them ever to feel used. I want them to feel more in control and not ashamed of anything. I do have a wonderful husband who celebrates me. He loves me at every stage, which I’m very blessed by.”
“I’m not tied to what the outside is for my self-esteem. And I think that’s a miracle coming through this business and being in it as long as I have,” she added. “My currency wasn’t the outside. It’s about vitality, not aging.”
