Brooke Shields breaks down as daughter Grier, 18, leaves for college: ‘I’m an empty nester’
Brooke Shields became emotional after dropping off her youngest daughter at college.
“OK, so, I sat here a year ago, and I watched my big girl leave, and I’m back on this porch, and I am now officially an empty nester?” the “Blue Lagoon” star said in a selfie-style Instagram video Monday as her voice quivered.
Shields, 59, then began to cry as she said “at least” her two daughters, Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18, were “together” at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.
“But it’s really not, it’s not, uh, it’s not easy. It’s not easy for the moms. I mean, it’s just so weird,” she continued while taking off her glasses and wiping tears from her eyes.
“Anyway, um, it was really hard. And then she started crying, and then I really started crying, and then I cried a good portion of the ride home. So anyway, um, I’m an empty nester. Wow.”
The actress captioned the emotional video, “Both of my baby birds have left the nest.”
Thousands of Shields’ followers and fellow celebrities commented on the post and empathized with her.
“Oh Brooke it’s so so hard. It’s the end of an era and now you get to start a new chapter. But first you have to cry. A lot. I laid on my couch for 3 weeks and couldn’t speak to anyone. Be tender with yourself. It’s hard because it’s hard. All us empty nesters are sending you love,” Debra Messing wrote.
“I know how hard that must be. My bestie is going thru that now,” Kristin Chenoweth commented.
“I know Brooke. But it gets a bit easier and always remember that we raised them to fly away!” ABC News anchor Deborah Roberts added.
“True words! It’s so hard on the moms when our babies fly off but if we did our job, that’s the goal!” Melissa Joan Hart chimed in.
Shields’ eldest daughter, Rowan, is a senior at Wake Forest, while Grier is an incoming freshman.
Rowan and Grier, whose dad is Shields’ husband of 23 years, Chris Henchy, poked fun at their mom by making a TikTok video with the “Pretty Baby” star.
In the viral video shared last week, Shields is seen carrying boxes in her youngest daughter’s dorm room and mouthing, “Does this mean I’m an empty nester now?”
“Yeah, we are both in college now!” the girls replied.
Shields then tossed up the boxes she was holding and emotionally ran out of the door and through the hallway.
The “Endless Love” star has long documented her close relationship with her daughters.
They previously got matching tattoos, and Shields has even lent them some of her iconic red carpet looks.
