Brooke Shields discusses the topic of women’s aging in her new book

“I was live on Instagram and people were like, ‘I really wish you looked like you used to,'” Brooke Shields tells The Times from her hotel room in Los Angeles.

If Shields is criticized for her appearance, what hope is there for the rest of us? That’s one of the dilemmas explored in Shields’ latest memoir on aging, “Brooke Shields Never Aged.”

“All the previous books I’ve written, except the children’s books, were based on one event that was really traumatic for me, and so that was the impetus,” says Shields, who has previously written books about her postpartum depression and complicated relationship with her manager mother. . “This one didn’t have that, so it kind of threw me off balance at first.” But it “made it even more exciting to write and much more enjoyable to read the audiobook.”

Shields wasn’t even sure she wanted to write the book, which her agent originally suggested to her as a follow-up to the conversation she started with her podcast, Now What? With Brooke Shields” and in line with her Commence hair care line, intended for mature hair.

The former child star recently revisited her past in the Emmy-nominated documentary “Pretty Baby,” named after the controversial 1978 film in which Shields played a young prostitute and headlined a song-filled one-woman show called “Previously Owned.” by Brooke Shields.”

“Did we really need more of me there? There was a lot of document. – Do you really need this, Brooke? I’m always very afraid of it,” he says, referring to the internal debate about starting the project.

“But when I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that it was a sign of age, that I felt this desire and that I needed to look at where I was in my life and look back differently, but not look back,” she adds, deciding whether she can “Make it funny, irreverent, silly but true and make it positive for women, not what we are taught to fear about age, supported or denied by statistics and research, that would be an interesting read for me.”

As with Shields’ other recent projects, she was prepared to consider what this moment in her life meant in the broader context of society’s willingness to talk about menopause.

“It doesn’t just happen to me, it happens to other women,” she notes.

Shields enjoys making fun of herself and doesn’t take herself too seriously, as evidenced by previous comic relief on shows like “Suddenly Susan” and “Friends.” People call the former Calvin Klein model by her first name on the street, but that same name can be her rallying cry when her self-confidence is shaken.

“You’re FBS: You’re f**king Brooke Shields” – her friends will support her in times like these.

There is a particularly funny anecdote in the book about her daughter borrowing designer clothes. Shields believed they should be saved for a special occasion, to which her daughter responds with the above statement – without the swear words.

Shields would have once objected to such conversations about her stardom and beauty. “I used to say, ‘Oh God.’ Stop.’ Because to me it looked like arrogance,” she says, noting that her larger-than-life reputation meant she was perhaps passed over for more serious roles or that the people she wanted to work with had preconceived notions of what she could do.

But now she’s leaning toward recognition: It’s allowed her to make a living, and it’s brought her to a point in her career where she’s now the subject of retrospective and rethinking — whether by “Pretty Baby” director Lana Wilson or by turning on the mirror again.

“I don’t compare myself to Marilyn Monroe, but – and I say this in the book – when someone in the public eye dies young and famous, they are immortalized at that age,” he notes. “If you don’t do it,” people may be dissatisfied. “I can’t be this idol anymore because I don’t look like I do in Blue Lagoon or whatever.”

While there’s a lot more to “Brooke Shields Don’t Agree,” the apt takeaway is “WWFBSD – What Would Damn Brooke Shields Do?”