Brooke Shields gives surprising update on empty nesting after sobbing over daughters going to college

Brooke Shields gives surprising update on empty nesting after sobbing over daughters going to college

Brooke Shields has changed her tune about her empty nest.

While the actress made headlines in previous years for sobbing over her two daughters going to college, she joked on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Thursday that she now looks forward to their departures.

“I’m an empty nester. Then they came home for Christmas,” she said. “It was great — and then I couldn’t wait for them to leave.”

Brooke Shields and daughters via Instagram
Brooke Shields gave a surprising update on her empty-nesting outlook.@brookeshields/Instagram
Brooke Shields on "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Thursday

Shields, 59, acknowledged that she was “so sad for them to leave the first time.”

However, the Golden Globe nominee admitted, “Then at the end of Christmas, I’m like, ‘Don’t you have to get back to school? Please. It’s time to leave.’”

The “Suddenly Susan” alum went on to gush that her and Chris Henchy’s daughters — Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18 — are “happy” at college.

Brooke Shields on "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Thursday
The model acknowledged on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that she used to get “so sad.”Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
Brooke Shields on "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Thursday
Shields admitted she now asks, “Don’t you have to get back to school? Please. It’s time to leave.”

The siblings both attend Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

When Shields’ elder child left home in 2021, she admitted on “Live with Kelly and Ryan” that it was “the worst thing [she’s] ever experienced in [her] life.”

The model and Henchy, 60, chose to drive to campus so she would not have to “cry with that many people on an airplane.”

Brooke Shields, Chris Henchy and daughters via Instagram in January 2025
The Golden Globe nominee shares Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18, with husband Chris Henchy.Brooke Shields/Instagram
Brooke Shields and daughters via Instagram
The siblings both attend Wake Forest University in North Carolina.Brooke Shields/Instagram

Shields was just as emotional when Rowan started her sophomore year.

“I thought it would be easier the second time. … It’s so hard. I miss her already,” she wept over the “painful” transition in 2022.

The “Pretty Baby” star received supportive comments from fellow A-list moms, including fashion designer Rachel Zoe and “Younger” alum Debi Mazar.

Brooke Shields via Instagram
Shields has documented her girls’ emotional dropoffs on multiple occasions.brookeshields/Instagram
Brooke Shields in NYC Thursday
She has referred to these moments as the “worst” of her life.GC Images

Grier joined Rowan in August 2024 — and Shields cried on Instagram again as she officially became “an empty nester.”

She explained, “It’s not easy. It’s not easy for the moms. I mean, it’s just so weird.”

The “Lipstick Jungle” alum has been married to Henchy since 2001, with the couple welcoming Rowan and Grier in 2003 and 2006, respectively.

Brooke Shields on Jan. 14, 2025 in NYC
Shields has been promoting her new memoir, “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old.”Gregory Pace/Shutterstock
Brooke Shields via Instagram

Shields gave rare insight into her and Henchy’s sex life in her new memoir, “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman.”

The “Blue Lagoon” star wrote that she needs “lotions and potions,” a “special pillow” and “tequila” to “fully enjoy” being intimate.

Elsewhere in the memoir, Shields wrote about a plastic surgeon giving her a “little bonus” during labia surgery and male doctors asking her an offensive question following her grand mal seizure.