Inside Brooke Shields' Relationship With Her Daughters, Rowan & Grier

Actor and model Brooke Shields first gained fame as a child star in the 1970s and 1980s with films like "Pretty Baby" and "The Blue Lagoon." She's also the CEO of Commence, a hair care company focused on helping aging women. But beyond Shields' successful career and lavish life, she's a devoted mother to two daughters from her marriage to screenwriter and producer Chris Henchy. Rowan Francis Henchy, born in 2003, and Grier Hammond Henchy, born in 2006, each share a close relationship with their mother.

Shields revealed that Rowan was following in her mom's fashion footsteps in a 2021 Instagram pic that showcased her daughter's beautiful red dress. "I thought it was a special night when I was nominated for a Golden Globe and wore this dress in 1998," Shields wrote, "but nothing could have prepared me to see my daughter wearing it to her prom." To celebrate her high school graduation, Rowan asked her mom to get a tattoo with her, so the duo got matching ladybug ink.

Shields' relationship with her daughter was also evident when recalling Rowan's move to Wake Forest University in August of 2021. The veteran actress admitted to People in 2022 that adjusting to life without Rowan was harder than she anticipated. "I'm not ever going to get used to her being gone."

Actor Brooke Shields enjoys a close relationship with her oldest daughter Rowan Henchy, and that bond is perhaps only matched by the relationship Shields has with her younger daughter, Grier Henchy, who's grown up to become her twin. Evidence of that bond came in 2024, when Grier attended her high school graduation ceremony wearing her mother's 1997 wedding dress. Brooke shared the moment on her Instagram, and added a heartfelt caption with the pics. "My youngest baby graduated from high school this week," Shields wrote. "I am so endlessly proud of her & the woman she's becoming."

But it was when Grier left on her college journey in 2024 to Wake Forest University, the same school her sister attends, that Brooke's feelings over being an empty nester came to the forefront. "I'm not handling it well," she said in a tearful Instagram video. However, she later found comfort in seeing her daughters thrive, saying, "They're happy, and that makes me happy."

Despite Shields' honesty about missing both of her daughters, she seemed to change her tune in a lighthearted moment on "The Tonight Show" in January 0f 2025. Host Jimmy Fallon asked her about being an empty nester, and Shields mentioned Rowan and Grier both came back during Christmas, jokingly that "It was great, and then I couldn't wait for them to leave."