Brooke Shields has observed that beauty 'doesn’t have to be associated with youth'

Brooke Shields believes beauty can "come in different forms".

The 59-year-old actress insists beauty "doesn’t have to be associated with youth" and she hopes that her new book, 'Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old', will spark fresh conversations about beauty ideals.

She told Real Simple magazine: "I hope it opens up a conversation about what the ideals are and what beauty really means.

"Beauty can come in different forms. It doesn’t have to be associated with youth."

Brooke observed that "chasing youth" is a "dangerous, slippery slope".

The actress explained: "The more I talked to women who are over 40, the more I realised that part of chasing youth is not just for themselves, but for other people. It’s for partners, it’s for the way you’re looked at in public, and it’s a dangerous, slippery slope.

"We’re not allowed to just grow and experience our life and be OK with it."

Last year, Brooke insisted that she's never been "afraid" of ageing.

She told PEOPLE: "I've been ageing for so long. I'm used to it by now.

"I think that the messaging around ageing is unfortunately predominantly negative. That is not the narrative that I am living - and we don't deserve to live that narrative."