Brooke Shields captivated Hollywood as a young model and actress in the ’80s, and she’s still making headlines today. Her 2023 documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, received critical acclaim for its unflinching spotlight on her overt sexualization as a child star. The two-part film also covered Brooke’s complicated relationship with her momager, Terri Shields, who died in 2012 after battling dementia. The film premiered in January 2023, but it will receive an encore presentation on ABC on Monday, January 8 at 8 p.m.
Brooke also has a very different starring role at home — as a mom to two beautiful teen daughters, Rowan Francis Henchy and Grier Hammond Henchy.
Her road to motherhood wasn’t easy, as she underwent IVF and a miscarriage before becoming a mom. “In one night, I became a full-blown adult,” she said of her miscarriage. “It was the way I looked at it. I was like, ‘Oh, this is what real loss is,” she added to TODAY.
Brooke shares the two girls with her husband Chris Henchy, whom she wed in 2001 after meeting him through mutual friends. Chris is Brooke’s second husband; she wed tennis star Andre Agassi in 1997, but the pair divorced in 1999. Brooke and Chris live together in Greenwich Village, New York, with their daughters, and the close-knit family has been seen countless times over the years. Learn all about what the girls are up to these days, and their heartwarming bond with their mom, here!
Rowan Francis Henchy
Brooke welcomed her eldest daughter Rowan on May 15, 2003. Her first child with husband Chris Henchy, whom she married in 2001, Rowan and Brooke have shared a close relationship since she was a young girl. Now 20, Rowan is a student at Wake Forest University. Brooke spoke candidly about saying a tearful goodbye to her baby girl on Instagram, writing: “That was the saddest drive away from anywhere I’ve ever had to make.” Rowan’s own IG is set to private.
“My unique and extraordinary baby girl spreading her wings. I love you so. We are so proud of you. This was the saddest drive away from anywhere I’ve ever had to make. But my baby is BEGINNING one of the most important adventures of her life to date…NOW!” Brooke also said.
By sophomore year, however, Brooke still wasn’t over her oldest living away from home. “Turns out second time is NOT the charm when it comes to your baby going off to college. Sophomore year, here she comes. I’ll be crying if you need me…” she wrote at the time.
Even as Rowan carves her own path, she still follows in her mom’s footsteps in the sweetest ways. Brooke shared to Instagram to share the heartwarming moment when her daughter wore Brooke’s shocking red 1998 Golden Globe’s dress to her prom, writing “nothing could have prepared her” for the occasion. As a high school graduation gift, Brooke and Rowan went to Stefano’s Tattoo Studio in New York City to get matching red ladybug tattoos. The mom-and-daughter ink was Rowan’s idea; Brooke told People she “couldn’t believe it” and “jumped” on the idea.
Even as a college student, Rowan still makes appearances in her mom’s social media posts. In December 2023, Brooke revealed that she took a Thanksgiving trip to Italy to spend time with her daughter. “Reminiscing… the best thanksgiving trip to visit my girl,” she wrote alongside a bunch of photos with her older daughter.
Grier Hammond Henchy
Another redheaded beauty joined the family on April 18, 2006, when Brooke gave birth to her second daughter Grier. Grier, 17, is still living at home in New York with her parents, but an interest in fashion shines through. Fans have commented on Grier’s resemblance to her mom back when she was a young model, which you can see on Grier’s Instagram. But Brooke has been clear she doesn’t support her daughters pursuing modeling or entertainment until they’ve completed their education. “My kids aren’t missing school,” she told Social Life. “My intellect was the only thing that got me out of that craziness.”
Even though Brooke may be making sure her daughters are going to school, it does appear that Grier has begun pursuing a career in modeling. Her Instagram bio notes that she’s represented by IMG Models, and she regularly shares photos showing off her fashion sense.
Although Brooke hopes to shield her girls from the entertainment industry, she embraces every moment she can spend with them, whether it’s making TikToks together or staging a photo shoot in matching plaid swimsuits. “When you have teenagers, you take what you can get,” she joked to People. “It’s about just celebrating life and that we’re all coming out of this crazy time and we’re together…anytime that I can spend with them, I beg to do it.”
The mother-daughter duo also appeared in a female-empowerment-themed campaign for Victoria’s Secret. “To be able to shoot this campaign with my daughter and to showcase the beauty of our relationship was a dream come true,” Shields wrote ahead of Mother’s Day 2022 via Instagram as she shared a pic from the campaign. More recently, the model revealed that her daughter was her date to the 2023 CNN Heroes ceremony with a series of photos with her look-alike daughter on Instagram.
The actress has also said she is “getting nervous” for her high school-age daughter to start looking at colleges. “It’s funny, I said to my daughter, I said ‘I’ve spent basically 18 years telling you what to do,” she said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “Telling you how to be … so now I have to really allow you to be trusted’,” she added.
Brooke also shared how Grier felt about Pretty Baby. “Grier looked at it as all the things that I kept from her … She was outraged, and she was very sad,” she said on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna. “She said, ‘Nothing you say to me, Mom, is going to make it better … She said, ‘I hate seeing bad things happen to you.’”
