Brooke Shields has a message about how the world treats older women.
The Endless Love star, 57, spoke to Gayle King for Oprah Daily this week, where the topic turned to the ways in which society approaches aging.
“I’m still in a career, I’m still working, I’m here and I was shocked by how unrepresented I was,” Shields said in a preview of the interview, which was posted to Oprah Daily’s Instagram. “You’re either 20s and sexy and fabulous or you’re in Depends and you’ve got dentures.”
The model and mother also noted that women of a certain age are just “not marketed to.”
“Once you’re over, you stop working; you’re, like, put out to pasture,” Shields explained. “I was incensed by that.”
Shields has spoken about ageism before. The actress appeared on the VeryWell Mind podcast in June to discuss the issue.
“We’ve just become used to how we’re spoken about and we’re told, you hit a certain age and they just put you out into pasture. Oh, your ovaries are no longer gonna make the world continue, so we’re just gonna kind of lump you over there. You’ve had a good run and it’s just so not the truth. I mean, I don’t feel it,” she said.
Shields said that this messaging is something people have just accepted, because “everything is for younger people.”
“It’s flashy and it’s made fabulous and that’s the idea. And the idea is that’s the only time you’re really ever alive and vibrant. And I think that we’ve just gotten used to it,” she said. “And I obviously didn’t think to question it when I was in my twenties. It wasn’t until I got passed 50 where I thought, wait a minute, there’s nobody out there talking to me, they’re overlooking me.”
In a May interview with Yahoo Life, Shields explained that she’s fighting against ageism in every facet of her life — including what wine she drinks. She is currently working with Clos du Bois on the brand’s “Long Live” campaign.
“What they were trying to do was flip the script on aging and ageism,” she explained. “There’s this misconception — like calling Chardonnay an ‘old person’s wine’ and putting it aside — but truth be told, like wine, we get better with age.”
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