Brooke Shields was looking back at easier days when she made her Instagram post for her 1.2M followers on Thursday.
The Pretty Baby actress was seen with no clothes on as she sat atop a massive, petrified tree branch that had washed ashore.
This daring image – snapped five years ago – has been shared as the Vogue model, 55, continues to recover from a broken femur in a freak accident at the gym. The accident took place in January.
No clothes necessary: Brooke Shields was looking back at easier days when she made her Instagram post for her 1.2M followers on Thursday. The Pretty Baby actress was seen with no clothes on as she sat atop a massive, petrified tree branch that had washed ashore
In her caption Brooke said, ‘This Earth Day, I’m joining @NatGeo in sharing one of the places on the planet that matters most to me. Celebrate your love for the planet with us by sharing a spot you care about. #ShareYourSpot.’
A similar image was shared by Brooke in 2016 but in that one, the star had on a T-shirt and shorts as she said, ‘The “Naked Tree.” I feel overdressed!’
Shields suffered a staph infection after undergoing two surgeries to repair her broken femur.
For Earth Day: In her caption Brooke said, ‘This Earth Day, I’m joining @NatGeo in sharing one of the places on the planet that matters most to me. Celebrate your love for the planet with us by sharing a spot you care about. #ShareYourSpot’
The actress broke her right femur after she fell off a balance board while at a gym in New York in January, and has revealed she initially underwent two separate surgeries to try and mend the broken bones.
Detailing the horror fall, she said: ‘It felt like it was all in slow motion. And then I just started screaming. Sounds came out that I’ve never heard before.’
Brooke explained she was ‘afraid [she] was paralyzed’ at first but kept telling doctors she could still feel her toes.
Five years ago: A similar image was shared by Brooke in 2016 but in that one, the star had on a T-shirt and shorts as she said, ‘The “Naked Tree.” I feel overdressed!’
The actress then had an operation to insert two metal rods, ‘one from the top of my hip down, and another across into the hip socket.’
But after the broken portion of her right femur popped out, she immediately underwent a second surgery to add five rods and a metal plate to anchor it all in place.
And after almost three weeks in hospital Brooke was finally sent home, where she developed a very serious staph infection which required her to return for emergency surgery on the IV site where she’d had three blood transfusions.
In the hospital: The former Vogue model, 55, broke her femur in a freak accident at the gym causing her months of physical therapy. The star continues to need a cane when she walks
So much pain: Shields suffered a staph infection after undergoing two surgeries to repair her broken femur
She explained: ‘At first they feared it might be MRSA [a type of bacteria resistant to antibiotics]. Thank God it wasn’t. If it had been, my doctor said it would have been a race against time. That’s how you can become septic. It seemed unthinkable.’
The Blue Lagoon star is now having to re-learn how to walk again, and has said she feels ‘helpless’ at times.
She added: ‘For the first time in my entire life, I thought, ‘I can’t power through this.’ I can’t even stand on my leg or go up a step. I need to relearn how to even walk. The feeling of helplessness is shocking.’
On the mend: The actress broke her right femur after she fell off a balance board while at a gym in New York in January, and has revealed she initially underwent two separate surgeries to try and mend the broken bones
Her journey: Speaking to People magazine, she said: ‘If anything, I’m a fighter. ‘I’m the only one that’s going to be able to get through this. My career has actually been like that as well. One door gets slammed in my face and I search for another. It’s not unlike how I felt when I wrote about postpartum depression in 2005. This is my journey’
But the actress is determined to pull through.
Speaking to People magazine, she said: ‘If anything, I’m a fighter.
‘I’m the only one that’s going to be able to get through this. My career has actually been like that as well. One door gets slammed in my face and I search for another. It’s not unlike how I felt when I wrote about postpartum depression in 2005. This is my journey, and if it took me breaking the largest bone in my body, then recovery is something I want to share.
‘We have to believe in ourselves and encourage one another. There’s no other way to get through life, period.’
Brooke is married to film producer Chris Henchy.
Happy couple: Shields and Henchy have been romantically involved ever since 1999, when they met on the Warner Bros studio lot; they are pictured together in 2013
They became engaged the following year and tied the knot in 2001.
Prior to making things official with the Impractical Jokers: The Movie director, Shields was married to tennis superstar Andre Agassi from 1997 until 1999, although they had dated ever since 1993.
The former supermodel and her husband share two daughters named Rowan and Grier, aged 17 and 15, respectively.
Happy parents: The married couple share two daughters named Rowan and Grier; the family is seen at the 2010 premiere of Furry Vengeance