Even stars have body issues. Brooke Shields opened up to Shape about her insecurities and how she’s learned a few easy tricks to get over them.

It’s easy—as Brooke knows—to stick to a healthy eating and regular exercise program when everything is going according to schedule. It’s when your day-to-day routine gets an unexpected shake-up that your skills are put to the test.

“I was worried about getting out of shape and gaining weight after the surgery,” says Brooke. “So just as I did with my pregnancies, I decided to go into it at my physical best.”

For her, that meant ramping up her exercise routine to preemptively drop a few pounds before her operation.

“Spinning is the only way I ever lose weight,” she says. “It’s purely about keeping my heart rate up and burning calories.”

Now, two months after surgery, she’s gained 9 pounds.

“That was a little more than I’d hoped, but by giving myself that cushion, I know I’ll get back into shape pretty quickly once I can start Spinning again,” she says.

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Ask Brooke if there’s an athlete or celebrity she looks to as a fitness role model and she emphatically says no.

“If you compare yourself to someone else, no matter how much you admire them, you just can’t win because you’ll never be them,” she says. “Feeling fit is my best motivator. I can only look at myself and remember that feeling and why I liked it.”

Playing a movie executive who’s trying to balance a job, marriage, and motherhood on Lipstick Jungle isn’t a stretch for Brooke. It was never a question that she’d continue her career after having children, a decision she feels makes her a better wife and parent. Her husband agrees.

“When I was offered the part, I asked Chris if I should take myself out of the running because it meant he would have to travel between Los Angeles and New York so much,” says Brooke. “He said, ‘You’re so much more fun when you’re working, and you’re happier and nicer!’?”

Despite being known as one of the great beauties of her generation, Brooke admits to never being that comfortable with her looks. In her late teens, a dance instructor was so frustrated by Brooke’s insecurities, she forced her to watch herself in the mirror during class.

I was like, ‘Are you crazy? What if I don’t like what I see?’ I was so tall and never skinny. I just wanted to put my head in the sand and not think about my body,” she says.

As a result, she dove into her schoolwork and graduated from Princeton in 1987 with a degree in French literature. It wasn’t until she was in her 30s and getting accolades for her comedic turn on Suddenly Susan that she began to truly feel confident.

“I guess I was a late bloomer,” she says. “But that’s when I could finally say, ‘Maybe I am pretty.’?”

She hopes to help her daughters find that balance sooner.

“I catch myself calling them ‘pretty girls’ or ‘beautiful babies,’?” she says. “Then I remind myself to say, ‘You’re smart, strong, brave—and beautiful!’?”