BROOKE SHIELDS "I'VE HIT AN AGE WHERE I KNOW MY SELF-WORTH"

At 12, Brook Shields found herself the subject of the male gaze and discovered the scrutiny and effect on self-worth that could bring. But now, in this exclusive extract from her new memoir, the newly confident 59-year-old explores what it means to be a "woman of a certain age" and why it's time to change the narrative.

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I arrived late to my friend-of-afriend's soiree, but not too late to miss the tour of the fancy prewar, beautifully renovated brownstone in Midtown. The owner was a newly divorced man with two children. The house included a walk-through wine cellar, complete with corking station. My husband, Chris Henchy, loves red wine, and because I could see some amazing vintage bottles with labels I knew my husband would swoon over, I sought out the owner to ask about his wine. I figured that anybody with a collection as extensive as this one would surely have reason to be proud, and would probably enjoy discussing it. As he displayed the different vintages, I asked a couple of questions about which years he likes to buy and why, and we ended up in a discussion about how wines improve with age.

He explained that he likes to buy bottles to commemorate significant years in his life. "I'm a '72 vintage, a great year," he quipped, referencing the year he was born.

Attempting some levity, I responded with: "Well, I'm a '65. An even older vintage! I may have you beat."

I was about to follow up with a question about how a '65 Châteauneufdu-Pape drank, but as soon as I referenced my age this guy's face dropped. It was as if by admitting the year I was born, I had suddenly shattered some secretly held expectations.

In a split, unsettling second, I could see this man trying to reconcile 1980s Brooke Shields with the mental math that a '65 vintage made me - gasp - 58.

"Oh man," he said. "You really shouldn't have told me that."

I thought he was trying to make a joke, but this was such an obvious knee-jerk reaction that his words came out more like a scolding.

"Why, because it makes you feel old?" I asked.

"Well yes, there's that ..." he said.