Aging is a dirty word, but actress, model, and author Brooke Shields says it doesn’t have to be that way.
In her new book “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old,” the entrepreneur, actress, model, and mother of two is encouraging women approaching menopause to lean in and embrace — rather than cower or resist — this phase of life.
Offering a fresh perspective
One of the biggest myths about aging, Shields told Mediaplanet, is that it is a signal of the end. “Women at this age are just beginning a new era of life,” said Shields, 59. “This age has a stigma, but I’m so proud I got this far.”
After giving birth to her daughter Rowan in 2003, Shields penned a memoir, “There Was A Little Girl,” about how she overcame postpartum depression. At the time, she realized she couldn’t be the only person experiencing that struggle — and the same understanding struck her when she began perimenopause, a transitional phase where periods become irregular then eventually stop, signaling the end of menstruation (AKA menopause). According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, symptoms include hot flashes, sleep trouble, mood changes, and vaginal dryness.
“No one was talking about [these symptoms],” she told WebMD. “So, again, I thought, ‘I cannot be the only female in the world ever to have experienced menopause symptoms.’ The more I looked at it, the more I realized that people are ashamed. And the messaging out there is that we should be.”
To converse with other women in their 40s, Shields started an online forum called Beginning Is Now, which has garnered millions of followers and eventually evolved into a beauty brand for this demographic. Shields decided to call it Commence.
“In French, ‘commence’ means ‘to begin,’” Shields told WebMD. “To me, it’s a word of incredible promise because it allows more to happen. And that’s what we want to ask women in this phase of life. What are you beginning? There’s growth, there’s excitement, there’s change in beginnings.”
Galvanizing women
That’s not the picture society paints of aging. It’s far more cynical, and encourages women to shrink or recede into the shadows in midlife. Almost as a rebellion against that notion, between her business ventures and family time, Shields is reveling in midlife. “The most rewarding thing,” she told Mediaplanet, “is knowing my children want to be around me. I can’t believe I got so lucky.”
One of the worst age-related biases Shields has faced is that “somehow in the eyes of the public, my worth has diminished — when in reality, it has tripled,” she said.
That’s not to say perimenopause is easy. As Shields has shared on social media, per Prevention, being a woman — no matter the phase — can be tiring. During the menopausal transition, hormonal fluctuations (of estrogen and progesterone among them) are to blame, according to the Endocrine Society.
Shields acknowledged these challenges with Mediaplanet, but offered some reassurance to women at this stage of life: “Puberty sucked, but you got through it,” she said. “This age has challenges, too (different ones), and you will get through it as well. Handle them with as much grace as you can, and look ahead.”
