Celebrity Baby Blog /

Brooke Shields Learned to Say 'No' From Daughters

Jason Kempin/WireImage

Having grown up in front of the cameras, Brooke Shields hinted during a recent appearance on The Bonnie Hunt Show that her youth was somewhat misspent. When asked whether she foresees a career in acting for daughters Rowan Francis, 6, and Grier Hammond, 3,  Brooke joked that the girls are “lazy, little children” who aren’t cut out for the demands of life as a child star. “When I try to get [Grier] to do tricks, she’ll say ‘No, I cannot.’ Just flat out,” Brooke explains. “I never even said that.”

“I should learn from her. It’s a big thing, especially in Hollywood, to say ‘No I’m not comfortable with that, no I cannot.’ I learn from her. They’re their own people. I don’t think they have the patience for it; They’re very theatrical and very dramatic, but all kids are.”

Brooke, 43, went on to note that the circumstances for child actors these days are much different than when she was a kid. “It was such a different era when I was doing it,” she observes. “It was just my Mom and I, we lived in New York City, I was going to school…I never left school. It’s a very different environment; It’s very different these days.” Husband Chris Henchy — whose relationship with the girls is celebrated in Brooke’s new book It’s the Best Day Ever, Dad! — continues to be a “rock star” in their home, leading Brooke to quip:

“[Moms are] chopped liver no matter what. They suck off you, they come out of you, they destroy every part of you and then he gets all the credit. It’s terrible.”

There is still some love reserved for mom, however. “They come up with the gems,” Brooke reveals. “Grier said to me, she put her hands on my face and said, ‘I love you to the whole recipe. All your ingredients.”

“My eyes welled up with tears, and I said, ‘Well what are my ingredients?’ She said ‘Funny, and so sweet. I love you. And I love you.’”

Source: The Bonnie Hunt Show