Brooke Shields gets emotional as she talks sending her daughter off to college for sophomore year: 'I thought it would be easier'
Brooke Shields is sharing a vulnerable mom moment with her social media followers.
The Endless Love star, 57, posted an Instagram video on Thursday in which she shared that she was emotional after sending her 19-year-old daughter Rowan to her sophomore year of college at Wake Forest University.
“So, I wave my daughter goodbye again,” Shields said, teary-eyed. “I thought it would be easier the second time. She’s already been away all summer. I’m not making the drive with her, she’s driving with her dad, but she’s taking my car, which is my graduation present car, so she’s going to be driving that. It was just too painful — I don’t think I can do the driving away from campus again. So, if anybody else is going through this, we’re all in this together.”
Shields, who shares daughters Rowan and 16-year-old Grier with her husband Chris Henchy, noted that it’s “so hard” to say goodbye — even when it’s necessary.
“I miss her already. Our babies,” she said. “This is what you want. You raise them, so that they leave you.”
In the caption of her video, she wrote, “Turns out second time is NOT the charm when it comes to your baby going off to college. Sophomore year, here she comes. I’ll be crying if you need me…”
Shields’s comments section was full of supportive parents who understood her plight. One wrote, “Thank you so much for being you. I’m moving my girl this week ... I know she needs to spread her wings, especially after a 2-year online high school program, but I’m really sad.” Another added, “I feel you. We raise them to do great things … give them wings … then they have the audacity to fly away! Bittersweet day. Just let it out.”
While Shields still has a daughter at home, her emotions likely stem from what is often called “empty nest syndrome.”
"The situation is always hard for parents," clinical psychologist Monica Vermani recently told Yahoo Life. "We raise these kids that were reliant on us for survival, and now they want to be individuals that are independent of us. So that's about us cutting the cord too, and working on our own anxiety and trusting that we've given the tools and the skills and values to our kids that they can be good human beings who contribute to society and live their own lives. As parents, we always have to remember that our kids are in our company for us to give them the tools and the skillset to be good individuals."
Last year, the Lipstick Jungle alum shared that dropping Rowan off at school was particularly challenging — but also rewarding.
“My unique and extraordinary baby girl spreading her wings,” she wrote in an Instagram post at the time. “I love you so. We are so proud of you. This was the saddest drive away from anywhere I’ve ever had to make. But my baby is BEGINNING one of the most important adventures of her life to date…NOW!”
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