“Aesthetics has totally gone mainstream!” I said, by way of awkward introduction, as I sat down with supermodel, actress and bonafide beauty icon Brooke Shields, now the celebrity ambassador for WarmSculpting (formerly known as SculpSure). Ten years ago, after first trying Botox and exploring laser treatments, Shields quipped that she was done, saying she was scared she’d “end up looking like the Joker.” But that was then; over the past decade, the industry has made great strides—with new devices, better techniques and technological improvements that have addressed everything from discomfort to unnatural-looking results.
I was curious—did the advancements in aesthetics help change her mind?
“Regarding my face, I still find [procedures] really scary,” says Shields. “So I have yet to [do any]. People could probably look at me and think I need it, but I’m a bit scared. But as I’ve gotten older, I also realized that it’s really about what makes you feel good about yourself. And if that involves this procedure or that procedure, it’s your prerogative. You own your body, you own your face, you own your skin. If you’re doing it for you [and not] doing it for an outside source or as a comparison, which I think gets dangerous, then you own it. And noninvasive [treatments] have changed my perception as to what I feel comfortable with.”
Shields, said she was drawn to WarmSculpting because the brand promoted it as a resource within a healthy lifestyle, not a quick fix. The nonsurgical body-contouring treatment uses laser energy to heat and destroy fat cells (up to a claimed 24% per session) and is FDA-cleared for treatment of the belly, the flanks, the thighs, the back and under the chin.
“I still need to do all the hard work, and I work out really hard with a trainer [and I do] yoga and Pilates,” Shields says. “WarmSculpting doesn’t profess to have large-scale changes. It’s not a weight-loss program—it was just basically there to help me deal with the stubborn areas that were not budging after two children.”
As the mother of two teenage daughters—Rowan and Grier—Shields isn’t totally on board with the modern proliferation of cosmetic surgery. Speaking to the recent Instagram ban of plastic surgery content for users under 18, Shields says, “That’s very responsible of Instagram, and I’m thankful for it. But I think that the addiction that [teenagers] have to that type of content is insidious—and unfortunately, it doesn’t really matter what they ban, because these kids are attracted to all of it. They’re heat-seeking missiles, and they will find it—and they find it using different methods.”
“My kids are 13 and 16,” Shields continues. “[Getting aesthetics procedures at that age] is ridiculous. They have to be older. Let them graduate and get married or not. But just get out of college and into a certain age bracket. The problem is, you’re watching these young girls get all these procedures. I just think it’s brutal. I don’t think they should do any of it.”
“Plus it’s expensive, and I’m not paying for it,” she adds.
But, it turns out, it’s Shields’ children who might be giving her the best beauty tip—one that has nothing to do with treatments. “A lot of the time, they’re the first people [to] say, ‘Mom, you should be proud of how you look’ when I didn’t think that was an option. I just always thought ‘undermine.’ It was always part of my vernacular, and I’ve learned that they have taught me to celebrate myself and my body more.”
