Brooke Shields : Keeps Thinking She's Younger Than She Is

She was once one of the youngest stars on the Hollywood scene, now Brooke Shields is showing what it takes to grow older gracefully in the public eye.

"I keep thinking I'm younger than I am," the Shields, 42, tells Parade magazine in its new issue. "The other day, I was working with a photographer to recreate an image we had done years ago. When I saw my face, I kind of went, 'What is that?' I assumed I was going to look the same, and I didn't. It was a shock to my system."

Despite the reality of moving into her 40's, the Lipstick Jungle star still identifies with the young characters in the scripts she reads.

"Sometimes I'll read a part and identify with the material, and I'll say, 'Oh, honey, I really like this,' " Shields says. "He'll look at me like I'm crazy and ask, 'What's wrong with you? You're not in your 20s. You seriously think you can walk in there and get this role? It's going to a 24-year-old.' "

Still, the busy mom-of-two, is finding this time in her life rewarding.

"I'm really proud of my kids (Rowan, 4, and Grier, 22 months), I'm excited about my job, and my marriage is not suffering. It's not easy, but it's not falling apart," she says. "This is the first time in my life that everything is exactly the way I want it to be."

Source: Parade via People