Brooke Shields feels "jealous" of her daughters' self-confidence.

Brooke Shields (Bjorn Ioos/PorterEdit/NET-A-PORTER.com)

Brooke Shields (Bjorn Ioos/PorterEdit/NET-A-PORTER.com)

The 53-year-old actress - who has daughters Rowan, 15, and Grier, 12, with her husband, screenwriter Chris Henchy - has admitted to feeling insecure about her appearance during her teenage years, and the brunette beauty has admitted she's slightly envious of how "more well-adjusted" her children are.

She confessed to NET-A-PORTER's digital magazine PorterEdit: "[My daughters] are so much more mature than I was, so much more confident in their own bodies.

"They have the same stubbornness and strength that I do, but are more well-adjusted. I am jealous as all hell about that. But, of course, I created it."

Brooke had a turbulent relationship with her own mother, and she says that dynamic was the reason behind her lack of self-confidence.

The American star - whose mother Teri was an actress and a model - explained: "My mother would get drunk and say: 'Why don't you move your fat ass?' So, I've always believed I had a fat ass."

Brooke's insecurities about her figure were exacerbated during her days as a swimwear model, when she was made to feel she was too "athletic" for the role.

She shared: "I modelled swimwear when I was 15, and even then, I didn't think I had a swimsuit body.

"I was a cover girl, not a supermodel. I was neck-up - the face, the eyebrows - and I was always described as 'athletic', 'not rail-thin', 'not a runway model'. Those messages, they seep into your consciousness."

By contrast, Brooke's husband Chris has helped to boost her self-confidence.

Brooke explained that the screenwriter has encouraged her to embrace her shapely figure.

She said: "I would walk backwards out of rooms, and he'd say: 'No, I want to grab onto you.' He really celebrated my womanliness and my body. And I needed a man to celebrate me."

To see the full interview with Brooke Shields read PorterEdit at and/or download the Net-A-Porter app for iPhone, iPad and Android.


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