“I was feeling helpless”: Brooke Shields Faced Every Mother’s Worst Nightmare When Daughter Rowan Was Diagnosed With a Possibly Life-threatening Condition At Just 14

Brooke Shields is one of those actors who grew up in the public eye. Moreso for Shields because she began modeling as an eleven-month-old baby. She continued modeling as a kid and gained recognition in Hollywood’s film industry when she did some nude scenes as an 11-year-old in the 1966 movie, Pretty Baby.

Since then, Shields has appeared in several movies and shows and is perhaps most popularly known for her recurring role in the 19th season of the TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The actress is also the mother of two wonderful daughters, Rowan and Grier Henchy.

In 2018, her older daughter Rowan Henchy was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, a health condition that could have put her life at risk. Luckily, she was diagnosed before something wayward could happen. Since then, the mother-daughter duo have taken to talking about it openly, in hopes of raising awareness.

Brooke Shields on How She Felt After Her Older Daughter Was Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes

In the past, Brooke Shields has made headlines for many different things. For instance, that highly publicized back-and-forth with Tom Cruise over postpartum medicines. Not to mention her relationship with legendary musician Michael Jackson, with whom she was great friends since they were very young.

However, these days Shields is focused on raising awareness about Type 1 Diabetes, a condition her older daughter Rowan Henchy was diagnosed with when she was only 14 years old and had just switched schools. One can only imagine what Shields must have felt as a mother when she came to know of her kid’s diagnosis.

In a recent interview with People, the actress revealed how she felt when the family had just come to know about it.

I was feeling helpless because we didn’t know what to do and then she became completely autonomous with it. She was old enough to administer the insulin to herself. And as a 14-year-old, giving yourself shots multiple times a day is a very quick maturation process. She became very competent. She had to grow up quickly.

Henchy, now a college senior at Wake Forest University, manages the condition well on her own and often posts pictures of herself on Instagram with her diabetes patch on to normalize the condition.

The Blue Lagoon Actress Worked on a New Movie That Raises Awareness About Type 1 Diabetes

Shields is doing her part in raising awareness about the condition the way she knows best. Consequently, she has just finished working on a movie titled Quarter, a coming-of-age comedy centered on a young woman living with Type 1 Diabetes. Kelsy Bascom, who stars and directs the film, has made it based on her experience of living with the condition.

Shields and her older daughter were part of the film’s panel at the Tribeca Film Festival, where they were speaking about it in hopes of normalizing the condition. Speaking about the movie to People, the 51-year-old actress said:

Kelly Bascom is the young woman who wrote it and directed it and stars in this. It’s one of the first type one diabetes movies. There are no diabetes movies there. It’s interesting from a young girl’s perspective. So I think it’s going to be an important movie.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the first symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes, which include increased thirst and urination and unexplainable weight loss, can also be the symptoms of a life-threatening condition, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) if not diagnosed in time.