Eleven month old Brooke Shields made her acting and modeling debut in an ad for Ivory Soap, featuring the tagline, “For young looking skin like this…” Nearly 60 years later, society’s obsession with warding off aging remains prevalent. This cultural fixation is explored in Shield’s latest memoir, “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman.”
On March 20, Shields joined Tiffany Dufu, President of the Tory Burch Foundation, and Emmy-award winning Broadcast Journalist Joyce Kulhawik at the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, MA, where they continued the conversation on reframing society’s perception of women and aging.
Shields has been acutely aware of societal expectations her entire life. At just 15 years old, a 1981 TIME magazine dubbed her “The Face of the ’80s,” making her the “standard of beauty.” Yet, as she aged, society’s admiration shifted, and it became evident that the woman they now saw was no longer their idolized ingénue. Shields delves into this dichotomy in the 2023 Hulu docu-series “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.”
Having internalized decades of public scrutiny, Shields was taken aback when the documentary received a standing ovation at its premiere. “Everybody stood up at the end of the documentary, and I thought they were leaving,” she confessed during the conference. “I used to think it was arrogant to accept applause or praise, it meant you were full of yourself,” she reflected, acknowledging her inner critic.
The following year, Shields embraced praise and was elected as President of Actors’ Equity Association in May 2024. A crowning achievement of her career, the leadership role introduced its own set of challenges, forcing her to confront both public and internal criticism head-on. “After a couple of times crying in a taxi cab realizing ‘what are you going to spend your time on? That person, or are you going to focus on policy,’” she recalled.
This past year has reshaped her perspective on how to respond to that criticism. Shields has promised herself, “I’m not going to lose my vulnerability, I’m not going to lose my humor, and I’m not going to lose my heart. And I’m not going to become closed off. I’m going to become stronger, but not behind a wall.”
Shields is now leading the charge. In 2024, she launched Commence, an Active Concepts haircare brand and community for women over 40 who are navigating societal and bodily changes. “I have to say I have not slapped my face on this…I’m in the lab with these [chemists],” she shared with the audience, explaining the intentional process behind the product formulations.
Shields, a mother of two young women, hopes they won’t spend decades struggling with the same self-doubt. “I wish I didn’t wait so long to have confidence and faith in myself, in my talent, and who I am as a person.”
As she approaches her 60th birthday, Shields is proving that you never age out of embracing your authentic self.
To learn more about Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership and their annual conference, visit https://www.inclusiveleadership.com/
