It’s a pain so many parents know well. This week, actress Brooke Shields has been grappling with a half-empty nest after she sent her eldest daughter off to college for the second time. In a poignant video, Shields opened up a discussion about the struggles of watching your children enter adulthood.
‘It’s So Hard… I Miss Her already’
It’s that time of the year! Brooke Shields recently sent her daughter Rowan off to college for the second time as she returned for her sophomore year. “So, I just waved my daughter goodbye again. And I thought it would be easier the second time,” Shields said in a teary Instagram video posted on Thursday. “She’s already been away and she’s been with me all summer.”
The First Time Was Brutal
Back in November, Shields revealed how hard it was to send Rowan away the first time during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan.
“Worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Shields remarked. “You want them to be happy… but really you don’t want them to be happy,” she joked at the time.
But in the same interview, Shields insisted Rowan was having a blast at university. “You know, she’s thriving, and it’s so great. But you just sit there going, ‘For the last eighteen years, she’s been in my house. And she’s not in my house anymore.'”
‘Second Time Is NOT The Charm’
But it never gets easier, does it? Shields revealed that she chose not to make the 12-hour drive with her husband and daughter from their Hamptons home to Wake Forest University in North Carolina this time. But in a fitting turn of events, Rowan is taking Shields’s car with her—a stunning maroon 1983 Mercedes SEC that she herself received as a graduation present.
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“I said it was just too painful. I don’t think I could go through the driving away from campus again,” Shields confessed. “So, if there’s anybody else going through this, we’re all in it together.”
Parents Supporting Parents
Shields’ video certainly resonated with her followers, leading many to voice words of support in the comments.
“You’ve brought tears to my eyes, Brooke. We know the feeling well. Spoiler alert: it really doesn’t get easier as they grow older. Then again, it sure feels good to love a child so much but to know that they have lives of their own,” writer Alan Zweibel commented.
“Omg I will not be this strong,” fashion designer Rachel Zoe wrote.
Even comedian Wanda Sykes joined in on the support wagon, commenting, “I’m sending you some pump you up love Brooke Shields.”
It just goes to show that parents, even celebrity ones, are all connected through powerful and oftentimes difficult experiences just like these.