Brooke Shields Regrets Being a 'Good Girl': 'I Spent so Much Time Self-Deprecating, Making Myself Small'

The actress, 58, spoke about the importance of women's mental health and wellness at an event in New York City

Brooke Shields has spent much of her career working on her self-esteem and learning self-acceptance. Now she wants other women to feel empowered to do the same.

The actress discussed her new online wellness community, Beginning is Now, at Publicis Health Media’s HealthFront 2024 on April 10. The purpose of Beginning is Now — which is targeted at women over 40 — is to "allow women to voice how they felt and what they wanted for their lives," according to Shields.

"I spent so much time self-deprecating, making myself small so I wasn't threatening," said the actress, who will star in Netflix's upcoming Mother of the Bride. "You do it long enough, and you kind of start to believe it. That's the danger. I had to really practice not making myself less than and not letting myself be intimated by people who were just yelling louder."

Related: See Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove in First Look at Netflix Rom-Com Mother of the Bride

During the event, Shields, 58, said the hardest thing she's had to teach herself has been self-advocacy.

"We're not taught that as women," the actress told the president of PHM Andrea Palmer, who led the Q&A. "We're not taught that we know our bodies better than other people do. It's not in the narrative."

She also touched upon how she helps her daughters Rowan, 20, and Grier, 17, in their own health journeys. "You have to have conversations with them, about their bodies, about what's happening with their bodies, about what they're feeling," she said. "The dialogue has to keep happening so that you can teach them the questions to ask their health care provider."

Ultimately, young women need to learn the keys to empowerment. "You need to teach them to be able to speak up for their own selves," she explained.

Related: Brooke Shields Reveals She Was Sexually Assaulted 30 Years Ago: 'I Blamed Myself'

Shields also spoke about the importance of empathy after Palmer read a quote about of empathy and respect being tools for self-advocacy.

Said Shields: "Empathy is the thing I go to — nobody knows what anybody else's real story is and what they're going through."

She added, "Humility for me has been a source of being accepted, being liked, being hired. All those things, that as a good girl, that's what you do. When it gets detrimental is when it shifts into self-deprecation."

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