Celebrity
Brooke Shields’ Net Worth Is From More Than Acting & Modeling
Shields has been vocal about her financial struggles — and how she changed the narrative for her daughters.
Brooke Shields has been a household name for virtually her entire life — but as the new Hulu documentary Pretty Baby explores, growing up in the entertainment industry was not easy. The two-part doc, directed by Miss Americana filmmaker Lana Wilson, “critiques a toxic culture and power structure that perpetuates misogyny and is complicit in the sexualization and objectification of young girls,” per its synopsis for the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered in January. “But, above all, it tells the moving story of Brooke Shields discovering and embracing her own identity and agency.”
The documentary takes its name from Shields’ breakout film, a controversial 1978 movie about a child raised in a brothel in New Orleans. “It was the best creative project I’ve ever been associated with, the best group of people I’ve ever been blessed enough to work with,” Shields told Vanity Fair in 2018.
Though Shields started out with acting and modeling, she’s branched out over the cours of her career. Here’s a look at Shields’ estimated net worth from her various projects — and what she’s said about money over the years.
How Brooke Shields Makes Her Money
1. Film & TV
The success of Pretty Baby quickly led to more acting work for Shields, including 1980’s The Blue Lagoon and 1981’s Endless Love — and since then, she’s continued acting steadily, even going onto Broadway starting in the ‘90s.
A 1981 New York Times article painted a picture of Shields’ earnings as a young actor, writing that she’d been given a “healthy percentage” of The Blue Lagoon’s box office and $500,000 for Endless Love. “Plus she's getting all the fringe benefits imaginable, and that was with a lot of money up front just in case,” her mother, Teri Shields, told the paper at the time.
Shields’ rapid success belied financial struggles behind the scenes, though. “When I was 20 years into my career, I had made and lost everything twice,” she told MSNBC’s Know Your Value. “My mom’s perspective was, if I did a movie, we could buy a house, or if I did a job, we could get a car. Her financial philosophy was [that] we work to live for the now, not for the future.” This resulted in Shields’ family being “incredibly cash poor [with] all these properties everywhere.”
She’s been vocal about planning for a more secure financial future for her two daughters, Grier and Rowan Henchy. “Since this wasn’t something I learned growing up, I am trying to change this for my daughters by teaching them respect for money earned and not wasted,” she explained. “It’s also really important for kids, especially girls, to believe that they can be financially independent. In my family, I make sure my daughters know that both mom and dad contribute to the household.”
Today, Shields continues to act. She recently starred in Netflix’s A Castle for Christmas, and joined the streamer’s rom-com Mother of the Bride, too.
2. Modeling
The same 1981 Times profile reported that Shields earned $10,000 a day as a model — and sometimes more, like a Calvin Klein jeans campaign that reportedly earned her between $500,000 and $800,000. (In today’s dollars, that’s more like $2 to $3 million.)
Shields still models today, including a recent photoshoot with Victoria’s Secret that featured her alongside daughter, Grier.
3. Fashion Companies
In addition to modeling clothes, Shields designs some of her own — from her Timeless line for QVC, to her new company Beginning Is Now. The idea for the latter came when Shields was talking to a friend about older women being overlooked as a target demographic.
“There’s this whole bracket of very vibrant women who have so much to offer, have such vitality, and are starting new chapters,” she told Bustle. “Their kids are leaving the nest, they’re deciding what they want to do with their lives, and yet, we go to look for our community and it’s not available to us.” The new company, whose products include loungewear, bras, and workout clothes, doubles as a “growing, global community of women over 40 finding strength, wisdom, optimism, humor, and so much more in each other,” per the brand’s website.
4. Partnerships
In addition to helming her own projects, Shields will often lend her name to brands she loves. In 2021, she was named the face of True Botanicals. “I love women-run and women-owned [companies] and True Botanicals’ whole approach,” she told Bustle of the partnership. Shields has also worked with WEN and MAC Cosmetics, and recently invested in (and was appointed chief brand officer of) wellness company Prospect Farms, which provides CBD sleep and anxiety products, per Business Wire.
5. Her Books & Podcast
Hulu’s Pretty Baby doc is the latest peek behind the curtain of Shields’ life — but the actor, model, and businesswoman has been outspoken in other forms of media, too. She’s written several books about her life, including Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. She also recently started a podcast, Now What?
What Is Brooke Shields’ Net Worth Today?
$40 MILLION
Though the early part of Shields’ career saw financial ups and downs, she told Reuters that she sought out the support of financial advisers to get on the right track. “They help me grow my money consistently, without going for big windfalls, which I’m totally fine with. And my husband [Chris Henchy] and I both continue to work at a heavy rate.”
Celebrity Net Worth estimates Shields’ net worth to be $40 million today. And she’s not planning to retire anytime soon, she told Reuters. “They are going to have to pull me off the stage,” she said, adding, “Work is a huge part of my identity, having done it for 53 years now. It’s like a blood source to me.”
