Interview: Brooke Shields
“Rowan was like,‘Don't let the door hit you on the way out.'"
by Mary Ann Cooper
April 27, 2009
Brooke Shields's career began when she was featured in an Ivory Soap ad at the tender age of eleven months, and it hasn't let up. Over the years Brooke has grown up in the public eye, starring on Broadway, in film, as well as in Suddenly Susan, her own TV series. Along the way she also found time to graduate with honors from Princeton. But the cornerstone of her life is her family. She married writer/producer Chris Henchy in 2001. This union has produced two adorable daughters,
Rowan (born in 2003) and Grier (born in 2006).
When she's not in front of the camera or enjoying some quality family time, she's at her computer cranking out books that wind up on the
New York Times Bestseller List. In her memoir,
Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, Brooke discussed her very personal struggle with PPD after Rowan was born. Since then, she's penned a more lighthearted children's book,
Welcome to Your World, Baby, based on little Rowan's preparation for her baby sister Grier's arrival.
Brooke spoke with Babble about the joys and challenges of being a working mom and her newest children's book,
It's the Best Day Ever, Dad! — this one a personal glimpse of her girls' special relationship with their dad — hitting bookstores April 21. —
Mary Ann Cooper
You have two young daughters — the perfect set up for writing a mother/daughter children's book. Yet, you wrote your newest children book about father/daughter relationships. How come?
I told my editor that my girls have a different language with their father. And it's something I'm not a part of. That was something new to me. I didn't grow up in the same house as my father and when I watch my girls with their dad it's so sweet and it's
so heartwarming. My editor and I talked about the special bond that fathers do have with their daughters and that they don't get that much attention, because everything's about mothers and daughters. But looking back, I think some of the best relationships
I witnessed in the course of my life have been between fathers and daughters. For our girls, he's sort of their first love in a sweet, innocent kind of way. So when we talked about it, we felt that we wanted to give dads their due.
"For our girls, their dad is sort of their first love in a sweet, innocent kind of way."
What's different about your husband's relationship with Rowan and Grier as opposed to your relationship with them?
I feel like they need me, but I feel like they're able to be more self-sufficient and their real personalities come out with their father. For my girls, mom is sort of laden with emotions. When they're sad, they want Mom. When they're hurt, they want Mom.
So much of it is based on them needing me. And also, because I'm mom, I'm more of the disciplinarian. It feels like they need their dad in a sort of more independent level. My older daughter Rowan really loves watching any type of sports with her dad. She's
not really interested in the sport, per se, but she has this unique bond with him about it. It's almost like she has this inside joke with her dad. They're friends; they act like buddies.
Were the girls the inspiration for the copy and illustrations?
When I wrote the first children's book, it was about a little girl anticipating her baby sister being born and what comes with that. We included Rowan in all preparation for her sister. The first book practically came verbatim from Rowan. All of the things
she said are in the book one way or another. So the copy for sure was Rowan's in the first one. The second one had other elements to it because it was more my words picked up by observations. Harper Collins paired me with illustrator Cori Doerrfeld. I gave
her the copy and we sort of boiled it down to what could be said in pictures and what could be said in writing. Cori got it in the first drawing. The whole idea is that the illustrations are supposed to be similar to my kids even though they have different
names. Of course, I described them to her and she saw pictures of my two little girls, but she also really understood the essence of these two little girls.
So when the book was completed did you test market it on Rowan and Grier to see if you nailed your target audience?
My girls are so funny. They love the second book. It took Rowan a while to warm up to the first book. I think she was a little bit embarrassed by it. I think it's because the first one was really all on her. But Rowan is now past the embarrassment. She asked
if we could take a copy of it and bring it to her class, and that was a big validating moment. I was a little wary, because I didn't want her separate from the rest of the kids, but it came from a good place. The second one was based on what they do with their
dad. Rowan is a bit more proud of the second one, because she gets to show her dad off. The dog is in it because the dog is about the most important thing in the girls' lives. Grier loves both books, but she doesn't really have the concept that it's about
her yet.
Rowan went off to school this past year. Did you suffer separation anxiety with Rowan? Grier is just coming out of her terrible twos. How terrible was that?
There was no separation anxiety on her part, just mine. She was like, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." It was almost as if she was saying, "And you are . . .? Oh right, my mother. We've met, haven't we?" Even though she's about to turn three,
Grier never really went through the terrible twos. She hasn't reached that phase yet, but I can tell she's about to enter that phase. Then again, she would almost like to get back into the womb as well. Rowan and Grier are the antithesis of one another. Rowan
is very analytical; she needs to think things through. She needs all of the information. Grier is pure emotion. She's just raw emotion, and I don't think it's just her age. I just think she's very sensitive, very emotional and very dramatic in her emotions.
You can't really raise your voice to her to prove your authority, because she'll just crumble. Rowan will sort of smarten up and look at you and think, "Okay, I get it. The stakes are really high. I'm going to now listen because Mom's serious."
About the Author
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Mary Ann Cooper is a freelance entertainment journalist living in New Jersey with her husband, Gary. Her work regularly appears in GRAND Magazine. She can be found online at www.maryanncooper.net |
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