Brooke Shields on her youngest daughter looking at colleges: 'I am getting nervous'

As a parent, looking at colleges for your child is often filled with emotion. And it’s no different for Brooke Shields.

During a recent appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," the talk show host asked Shields about how her two daughters are doing. The actor’s eldest, Rowan, is a sophomore at Wake Forest University and “hasn’t gotten kicked out yet,” she joked.

As for her youngest daughter, Grier, she says “my other one is a junior in high school and we are starting to look at colleges.”

“Are you nervous?” Clarkson asked.

“I am getting nervous,” Shields replied. “It’s funny, I said to my daughter, I said ‘I’ve spent basically 18 years telling you what to do. Telling you how to be ... so now I have to really allow you to be trusted.’”

The "Suddenly Susan" star noted that her mom was incredibly different, saying she "held so tightly to me” to the point where the actor was “terrified of being on my own and spreading my wings and finding my independence.” The relationship, she says, was enmeshment.

“I was ready to go home,” she said of her college experience at Princeton University, where she graduated from in 1987. “I missed home so much.”

But it was her mom's words of wisdom that stuck with her.

“She sort of did the most unselfish thing that she could’ve done and said, ‘You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t see this through. You’re not a quitter,’” she said. “That was I think terrible for her, because it was the beginning kind of the end for her because her whole identity was tied up just in loving me.”

Shields struggled herself to say goodbye to her oldest in 2021. The proud mom, who shares her two daughters with husband Chris Henchy, took to Instagram to document the teary day.

“My unique and extraordinary baby girl spreading her wings. I love you so. We are so proud of you,” she wrote in the caption. “This was the saddest drive away from anywhere I’ve ever had to make. But my baby is BEGINNING one of the most important adventures of her life to date…NOW!”

And when she dropped her off again for her sophomore year, Shields said she thought the second go round would be easier. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.

“Turns out second time is NOT the charm when it comes to your baby going off to college. Sophomore year, here she comes. I’ll be crying if you need me…” she captioned a clip on her Instagram.

When speaking with TODAY about the emotional experience, Shields joked she has a plan for how to survive the next few years: “Just move on campus, just buy an apartment next door.”

But she also continued that “while it’s sad for moms, it’s also a moment of pride.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com