Brooke Shields Has a Hilarious Rebrand for the Term ‘Empty Nest’

When I was deep in the trenches of raising four little boys — ranging in age from newborn to 7 years old — I would have given almost anything for a quiet house and a few minutes to myself when nobody needed me. But now that my little boys are teenagers, poised to fly the coop forever, the prospect of a quiet house seems much less exciting … and the mere thought of nobody needing me can bring me to tears. I admit it: I’m scared of having an empty nest.

However, if you’re like me, you may find comfort in wisdom from an unexpected source: the iconic Brooke Shields. A recent empty nester herself (she’s the mom of two daughters: 21-year-old Rowan and 18-year-old Grier), she has a lot to say about the topic — and it’s a refreshing departure from the typical doom-and-gloom viewpoint (and just what this worried mama needed to hear). In an onstage conversation with SHE Media CEO Samantha Skey during the recent live event, Flow Space presents An Evening with Brooke Shields, she gave a scathing review of the term “empty nest,” saying that it “almost sounds punitive.”

“You picture this dry little twiggy [nest] with some broken eggs in it …” she said, alluding to the prevailing attitude that once a woman’s children leave home, life is no longer complete, and she’s left floundering with no purpose to speak of. But, as Shields and Skey concluded, it should be called something different: a party nest! (“Party in my nessst,” Shields trilled cheekily, before admitting that’s the kind of discussion for “a different show.”)

She acknowledged that some parts of being of empty-nester age can indeed be scary. “Your kids are gone. You have to re-meet your partner, you have to re-establish who you are in yourself, and it’s a period of adjustment,” she said. “But the women that I know that are 40-plus are amazing.”

Shields also sang the praises of having an empty nest during a Q&A before the event.

“Being an empty nester now is fabulous,” she gushed. “I got past all the crying, I got past all the missing them, and then there was just this sense of freedom, that it’s not ‘Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom,’ all the time. It’s always another need, always another thing.” (Relatable!) And reassuringly, Shields has found that despite the increased physical distance from Rowan and Grier, they still remain close in other ways.

“As it is, they call me all the time, which I love, and it’s fun to FaceTime them,” she said. Even better, when they do return to the proverbial nest, her daughters are all about maximizing the quality time: “I love that when they come home, you know, they’re still like, ‘Can we sleep in your bed? Can we watch a movie?’ It’s come full circle in a really nice way.”

The hardest part for Shields? Navigating the changes that come about when a household with kids is now just a party of two.

“It’s been years of them being first, and they’re the best excuse in the world,” she said. “You know, from the time they’re a baby, ‘I’m just gonna go put her down’ — and then you don’t have to go back up to the dinner table or the dinner party or whatever.” But reintroducing yourself to your partner when so much has changed is the tricky part: “Couples change at different rates, and it can be kind of scary.” But, she said, it’s important to realize that you aren’t exactly the same people you were when you first fell in love — and to be willing to “re-meet” each other.

There’s one other thing that Shields admits has caught her off-guard, but in the best way: watching her daughters operate within the parameters of their new, independent lives.

“What I’ve noticed is going there to visit them, seeing them in their lives that you have nothing to do with, is on the one hand so shocking — but it’s just so sweet to see their friends love them, make fun of them, have a whole relationship with them that we don’t know,” she mused. “I don’t know the inside jokes, I don’t know anything about it. So you just kind of go, like, ‘Oh, they’re gonna be okay in their lives.'”

And that’s the part that truly gives me comfort. Because despite the rollercoaster of emotions that inevitably come with being an empty nester, the knowledge that your kids are going to be fine on their own — without your help — is all any parent can ask for.

… OK, that and the endless possibilities that come along with having a party nest!

These celeb parents have gotten very real about their kids growing up.