Brooke Shields is approaching the bittersweet time so many parents dread – but maybe secretly look forward to – officially becoming an empty nester.
The Mother of the Bride actress, 58, shares two daughters with her husband Chris Henchy, who she married in 2011; in 2003, they welcomed first daughter Rowan Francis Henchy, 20, followed by her younger sister Grier Hammond Henchy, 18, in 2006.
And while the doting mom already went through one college drop off when Rowan started school at Wake Forest University in 2021, now she and her husband are gearing up to officially have them both moved out of their New York City home when Grier starts her freshman year in the fall.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight over the weekend at the Mother of the Bride premiere about the big change, Brooke confessed: "I'm not quite in denial but, definitely, I'm going to be a mess," and emphasized: "I really am going to be a mess."
Still, she noted: "But I know that they're going to come back," adding: "I mean, my older daughter comes back often and, you know, they'll be my babies forever."
She further shared: "If you've done it right, though, you want them to feel that freedom to start their lives, you know?"
Brooke in fact had her eldest daughter Rowan, who traveled from her college town of Winston Salem, North Carolina to Los Angeles, by her side during the premiere of her new movie.
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The two looked like true twins in coordinating red dresses, with Rowan wearing an A-line dress with a tank neckline and a black hem, while her mother wore a figure-hugging bandage dress with a square neckline.
They also matched more subtlety thanks to their mother-daughter tattoos. Brooke got some matching ink with each of her daughters when they rang in their 18th birthday; she has a ladybug one with Rowan, plus two pairs of heels – one worn by a young girl and another by an adult woman – with Grier. "When your daughter wants to be branded with you, you just say yes," she said.
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Also speaking on what it meant to her to have her daughter supporting her during the premiere, Brooke shared: "It's so special on so many different levels... [and] the movie is so special, it touches upon so many different themes and stories and relationships."
In Mother of the Bride, which was released on Netflix on May 9, Brooke stars alongside Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, and Chad Michael Murray, among others.
The plot reads: "Stunned by her daughter's bombshell wedding announcement, Lana soon faces another shock: the groom's father is the man who broke her heart years ago."