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Now that her daughters have left for college, Brooke Shields is trying to cope with empty-nest syndrome.
The actor posted an Instagram video on Monday reflecting on her younger daughter starting college. "Both my baby birds have left the nest ????????????," she wrote in the caption.
"I sat here a year ago, and I watched my big girl leave. And I'm back on this porch, and I am now officially an empty nester," Shields, 58, said while holding back her tears.
She and her husband, Chris Henchy, have two daughters, Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18.
"They're together at least," the "Pretty Baby" actor said. "But it's really not easy for the moms. I mean, it's just so weird. It's so weird that she's not here."
Shields recalled the emotional moment when she had to part from Grier. It was a tearful goodbye, and she had cried for "a good portion of the ride home," she said.
"So anyway, I'm an empty nester," she said at the end of the video. "Wow."
On Friday, Shields posted a video of herself with her daughters in their college dorm room. "Start the car! Last one off to college ????," she captioned the video.
Shields has opened up about her close bond with her daughters. She has matching tattoos with her daughters — a ladybug with Rowan and a pair of high heels with Grier, per Entertainment Tonight.
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In May, she said on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show that her daughters still sleep on her bed and watch romcoms with her whenever her husband goes on work trips.
At the screening of her Netflix romcom, "Mother of the Bride" in May, Shields told Entertainment Tonight that she would be a "mess" when Grier heads off to college.
"But I know that they're going to come back," she said. "I mean, my older daughter comes back often and, you know, they'll be my babies forever."
Dealing with an empty nest can be difficult for parents.
In 2023, Cristine Struble shared three tips with Business Insider on how she and her husband adjusted to their empty nest.
They learned to say "yes" to social gatherings they previously never had the time to attend and learned to let themselves take naps. They also strived to focus on their relationship since their child was no longer their priority.
"During this back-to-school season, the nest might be empty, but we are embracing the bounty of opportunities ahead," Struble wrote.
Other parents have coped by embracing their newfound solitude.
Veronica I. Arreola, a divorced empty nester, told BI that she overcame her "mom guilt" and took a three-week solo trip to New Zealand.
"I spent 18 years preparing my daughter to go out and explore the world," she wrote. "To do that myself is awesome."
A representative for Shields did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
