Brooke Shields entered the spotlight before she could walk, starting as an Ivory Soap baby at 11 months. She’s spent a lifetime living in the public imagination— “as a totem of American girlhood, as a paragon of beauty, as a lightning rod,” according to The New Yorker. Now, as she enters her sixth decade, she’s added beauty CEO to her résumé as the founder and CEO of Commence, a plant-based haircare line for women over 40. Her best-selling book may be titled Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, but she is getting older, and she’s doing it the way she approaches everything, with curiosity, fearlessness, and an eagerness to embrace what’s next.
MORNING ROUTINE: It depends on my work schedule, but I’m usually up at 7 or 7:30. I take care of the dog and then jump on back-to-back Zoom calls. If I’m lucky, I’ll fit in a workout.
BREAKFAST: My favorite tea is PG Tips—it’s just so good! Then I have grapefruit juice and a piece of Mandel bread that my friend bakes for me.
SNACK: I love Perfect bars, and I always have a bag of raw almonds with raisins.
VITAMINS & SUPPLEMENTS: I take supplements for my thyroid, B12, and a multivitamin. I try to get most of my vitamins from food and eat the way my body asks me to. If I’m craving meat, I eat a burger. I found that the years I was only eating fish, for example, I wasn’t necessarily healthier; I just wasn’t balanced. And a good bowl of pasta will always be the most satisfying.
ENERGY BOOST: I go straight to espresso.
COCKTAIL: Either a silver tequila with lemon or reposado with orange, and I like them neat. I think it’s the only alcohol that’s not a downer.
WORST VICE: Probably the tequila!
WORKOUT: I do Pilates in NYC at Nofar Method or New York Pilates when I’m in Southampton. When my knees are feeling good, I take a Soul Cycle class. I’ve added weight training because I don’t just need to fit into things, I need muscle!
SPA: I like a really, really tough massage. I find that going to a nail salon and getting a 30-minute chair massage is better than going to a fancy place. If I really want to relax, I’ll go to Shou Sugi Ban House in Water Mill, New York, because it’s just gorgeous, but if I’m feeling tense, I’ll go to the nail salon, and it’ll set me right!
MOOD LIFTER: I usually call a friend who makes me laugh. Or I do needlepoint or a jigsaw puzzle for 30 minutes because it’ll get my mind away from whatever is bogging it down.
SMALL HABIT THAT HAS MADE A BIG CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE: Learning to breathe correctly. I breathe in the top part of my chest, and there will be hours that go by, and I haven’t taken a deep breath. A girlfriend encouraged me to practice breathing for 5 minutes a day.
GUILTY PLEASURE: Watching Netflix until 3 a.m., and I can hardly see straight! It’s just heaven because it’s so quiet.
JET LAG HACK: I immediately go onto the time zone that I’m in, don’t eat the plane food, and try to sleep. I get in trouble when I start watching movies. I’ll start watching one after the other, after the other, and then I won’t want to sleep.
PAST STYLE REGRETS: Practically all of the 80s.
SKIN CARE MVPS: I love Biologique Recherche P50 and SilkLyfe Daily Defense and Sunscreen. I like moisturizers that are thick and have real pull, like Omorovicza Queen Cream from Budapest.
FIRST BEAUTY PRODUCT: Nivea. The smell was so good, and it was so moisturizing. I tried La Mer once and it felt exactly like Nivea!
BEST BEAUTY TIP YOU’VE LEARNED FROM THE PROS: If you put eyedrops in, immediately sniff. It sounds like you’re doing drugs, but if you sniff right away, it sucks the eye drops into your eyes and they don’t go dripping out and ruin your mascara.
MAKEUP HEROES: I like tubing mascaras, especially Grande Wrap or Thrive Liquid Lash Extensions. I like using a sheer tint on my lips and my eyes. I put a little dab on my cheeks, eyelids, and lips, and it makes me look like I’m a little bit flushed.
HAIRCARE ESSENTIALS: Every morning, I use Commence 2-in-1 Instant Dry Shampoo. I don’t wash my hair every day, but I use the Instant on my roots and the 3-in-1 Leave-In Conditioner on any areas that are frizzy.
SCENT: I like Maison Margiela Untitled Eau de Parfum, which they don’t make anymore, Lá Bealtaine by Cloon Keen in Ireland, and L’Ombre Dans l’Eau by Diptyque.
BEAUTY TREATMENT YOU’LL NEVER EVER DO AGAIN: I always say I’m never doing Fraxel again, but then my skin looks so good afterward, time goes by, and I’m right back in. It’s like childbirth in that you forget the pain.
PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF: Stop tearing yourself apart and start celebrating yourself! You’re either too much of this or not enough of that. You spend all these years beating yourself up, and then you go, wait a minute, I’m 60! Am I going to stop this madness, or am I going to keep doing this until I go to the grave?
WHAT DO YOU TEACH YOUR DAUGHTERS ABOUT BEAUTY? When we’re young, we’re taught that there is a beauty ideal, and you have to look just like it. I didn’t fit into sample sizes and wasn’t considered skinny enough. I shut myself down from everything about myself physically. A woman can have a rocking body, then walk by a mirror and be like, I’m ugly. A guy could have a Volkswagen stuck to his stomach, flex his arms, and say, Yeah, I’ve still got it! I tell my daughters, when you beat yourself up, it’s a waste of time. And you must keep saying that to them!
WHAT HAVE THEY TAUGHT YOU? They’ll say, “Mom, you’ve got to celebrate your body! Celebrate what you have, not what you don’t have.” And I’m like, “Wait a minute, I’m supposed to teach you guys these things!”
WHEN DO YOU FEEL THE MOST BEAUTIFUL? Right after I’ve had a great workout, and there’s a flush in my skin, and I feel like I’ve done something good for my body.
LIFE MOTTO: Walk into your biggest self. I’m not downplaying myself or making myself smaller anymore.
WHEN ARE YOU HAPPIEST? When I’m out at the beach.
BEST THING ABOUT GROWING OLDER: Spending time on yourself, not on absolutely everybody else. And you’d be surprised to discover how much fun that is!
Holly Parmelee, formerly an associate publisher at Little, Brown and Company, is an editor and writer at Serendipity magazine
