Reside Issue | November 2021

Brooke Shields spent a good portion of the past several months shooting on location in Scotland—in a castle, no less. “The cast rented out the carriage houses, so every morning I woke up and pretended I was royalty,” says the actress, who stars in the Netflix movie A Castle for Christmas. “I love the idea that Netflix is doing rom-coms where the women are empowered. The women are the ones trying new adventures!” In the film, Shields plays a famous romance novelist who sets off to Scotland to rediscover her roots and write her next book after the world has turned on her for killing off a favorite character. Says the 56-year-old star, “I liked that it didn’t limit how it looked at a woman living this next phase of her life.”

As picturesque as the setting was, she was happy to return to everyday life, and her airy Hamptons house was the perfect landing pad. “It’s an old house, but when we bought it, it had already been renovated.” Decorwise, she decided to keep it simple—classic Hamptons with a bit of Hollywood glam. “I pulled a lot of pieces I already owned from storage. My home in New York is a brownstone so it’s a bit more formal, but here I wanted it open and fresh and not too cluttered. It’s all about art and color and the things I like to see every day.”

From her beach house office, she’s been working on the launch of her next project, “Beginning Is Now,” a platform celebrating women. “This is probably the most terrifying yet exciting endeavor I have ever done,” she says. “It’s born completely out of this feeling that the women of my age are no longer represented. I want to say, ‘Hey, we are entering a huge, beautiful, next phase of our lives—grab a hold of it and take care of your mind and your body and your spirit.’”

Here are her top five favorite things at her Hamptons home.

VELVET COUCH—WITH MIRROR

“I love this couch, it’s gray velvet and just so pretty,” Shields says. “I think it’s possibly Victorian. I had it in storage for so long and I thought it fit perfectly in this room.” She ended up pairing the couch with a large, ornate mirror she also thought wouldn’t make it out of storage, but the look was just right in her workspace. “I only have a formal office out here at the beach,” she says.

PORCH SWING

“I am here every single day in the morning with my tea and my newspaper,” Shields says. And she delights in the swing function. “It gives me peace,” she says. “I need to be constantly doing something, whether I’m reading or doing a puzzle or emailing for work, and the swinging is almost a form of meditation.” Meanwhile, at night, it makes for a homey scene. “It’s nice to have cocktails there, too, and to get the late-night recap when the girls come home from a party.”

SOULCYCLE AT HOME BIKE

Shields has been going to SoulCycle since 2002 and they gifted her a bike during the pandemic, when their in-person classes were unavailable. “It was one of the things that kept me sane during the pandemic,” she says. “Emotionally, they’ve gotten me through so many difficult periods in my life. When I had postpartum depression, I would go and just peddle away and cry. The message is so uplifting and important—SoulCycle has become such a source of peace for my brain.”

BABY PRINTS

“When I had my first daughter, I was so into everything baby, and little baby feet and little baby hands are so unbelievably sweet,” Shields says. The star oversaw the imprinting process herself, working from a soft plaster kit. “It took a gazillion tries because she was a month old, and it’s hard to have a baby cooperate!” But the keepsake has stood the test of time. “It goes from those little handprints to saying goodbye at college,” sighs Shields, who recently dropped daughter Rowan off for her freshman year.

PINEAPPLE ORNAMENT

This marble piece is from India. “I was dead set on getting these—they’re supposed to be pineapples, and I love the idea of them being a welcome and the first thing you see when you get to our front porch.”