Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman

By Brooke Shields – Flatiron Books, 2025

Brooke Shields has spent a lifetime under public scrutiny—first as a child star and model, now as a woman navigating aging in the spotlight. Now 59, Shields feels more empowered than ever, rewriting the narrative on women and aging—on her own terms. In this memoir, she challenges societal pressures to maintain youthfulness and advocates for self-acceptance and authenticity. In deeply personal reflections, Shields recounts a painful miscarriage and complications from a cone biopsy that affected her fertility. She also shares a harrowing plastic surgery experience in which an unsolicited procedure left her feeling violated. Shields critiques the unrealistic standards imposed on women, encouraging them to embrace aging as a natural, beautiful process rather than a source of shame.