I like Brooke Shields because she’s refreshingly normal and it doesn’t seem like an act. Sure she endorses too many things and it seems like I see her in commercials constantly, but there’s something very genuine about her. She’s honest and doesn’t come across like she’s trying to convince us that she’s just a normal working mom or that she hasn’t had any work done.

Brooke has a new interview in Parade in which she’s promoting a new family comedy she’s co-starring in with Brendan Fraser called Furry Vengeance, out this Friday. The movie looks dumb but funny. As the mom of a five year I have to say that I appreciate most family-friendly movies that come out and have enjoyed films that I would have mocked when I was single. (Tooth Fairy, for instance, wasn’t bad as far as kids movies go. Yes my standards are low, but The Rock is so easy on the eyes.) Furry Vengeance has both cute animals with human characteristics and a lot of sight gags, although I think it’s too mature for my son at this point.

Getting back to Brooke’s interview, she talks about growing older, staying fit, and accepting herself as she is. These are worn topics that actresses get asked constantly, and she gives kind of cliche answers in that she downplays the importance of diet and exercise and says she’s content with herself as she is. I believe her, though, and I like that she admits she exercises and doesn’t chalk it all up to “running around” with her kids. The part about eating less because she picks at her kids’ food doesn’t ring true to me, though. I know I eat more because I eat my own portion in addition to what my son leaves and I have to train myself to just throw it out. A recent study showed that parents living with children ate the equivalent of an entire pizza more fat a week than childless adults, so I would assume that more people can relate to eating more, not less, with kids around.

Preserving that sexy bod.
“Having two kids helps. You eat less for some reason because you end up picking at what they had to eat and don’t eat real food. I’ve always danced and I spin and I love doing yoga. I don’t exercise every day, but in New York, it’s easier because we walk everywhere. So we’re walking all the time. I make my kids do that too.”

But she’s not a fitness fanatic.
“It’s sort of a cliche, but it’s definitely been post-children and just surviving my 30’s. It sounds so granola, but I sort of celebrate what I do have rather than what I don’t have. You spend so many of your early years, or I did, focusing on the things that I wasn’t. I was never petite. I was always getting unfavorably compared to other people. Finally, I started saying, ‘You know what, I am going to wear heels. I don’t care if I’m 6’4″ when I wear heels. Why should I compromise?’ There’s something freeing about not wanting to look 22 anymore. So as I’ve gotten older, I’ve given myself a little bit more of a break.”

Hooked on organization.
“I grew up without a routine at home, things were hit and miss. But my mother had me in a regular children’s school my whole life and that routine calmed me. My school became like my home. I never missed school for work, ever. Sometimes I used to take my organizing a little too far with my Filofax, but that was the way that I coped. I didn’t do drugs. I’m just organized.”

Passing it on.
“My kids thrive on the routine at bedtime, like the bath and the food and the book reading. Every night we say our prayers and we do a rose/thorn which is, ‘What was your rose of the day and what was your thorn of the day?’ I watch them and it just gives them a sense of comfort. It’s the same thing with rules. I have to enforce their behavior, including manners. But they like it. I think they just feel like they’re safe, and then they know that they can kind of go off and be kids at school.”

[From Parade]

In terms of Brooke talking about growing older – two years ago she said that she still looked in the mirror and expected to see the same person she was was in her 20s. I can definitely relate to that, but the part about not eating as much when you’re a mom – not so much.

Here’s the trailer for Furry Vengeance. I bet it will do quite well at the box office, as these kid movies usually do. I haven’t heard much about it though:

Brooke Shields and her husband, Chris Henchy, are shown on 4/25/10 on the opening night of the musical “Promises” in NY. Doesn’t he look pissed off? Credit: Joseph Marzullo/Wenn.com. Brooke is also shown on 4/22/10. Credit: WENN.com