Brooke Shields Reveals the Secret to Her Happy Marriage: “A Little Space Is Good!” (EXCLUSIVE)

Communication is important in Brooke Shields’ marriage with Chris Henchy, but distance is really what makes their hearts grow fonder. “A little space is good,” the actress, currently appearing on Law & Order: SVU, exclusively told Closer Weekly at the Skin Cancer Foundation’s Champions for Change Gala.

Case in point? Brooke, 52, and her TV-writer husband, 53, do the bicoastal “LA and New York thing” for work, she said, and at home she swears by maintaining “separate sinks.” Still, the busy couple do spend quality time together, including one recent morning when they both had an hour free. “Instead of getting involved as we do with our emails and the calendar, I was like, ‘Please, let’s just go have coffee out on the porch,’” Brooke has shared. “He got the paper, and we went and sat out. It maybe lasted 45 minutes!”

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Brooke and Chris have been hitched since 2001 after meeting through mutual friends in 1999. The couple are now parents to two daughters, Rowan Henchy, 14, and Grier Henchy, 11, together. "Being with my children is one of the purest joys that I have," the actress gushed of her girls in a previous interview.

Though Brooke has been in the Hollywood spotlight for more than 50 years, she's not very eager for Rowan and Grier to start their own showbiz careers anytime soon. In another interview, the proud mom said she wants the sisters to focus on being kids and keep their schedules full of fun and activities. “They don’t have the time!” she said. So, how has Brooke survived her time in the limelight? "[She] is very un-Hollywood. She and Chris have a great relationship. Their kids come first and they do all the things normal families do," a source once revealed to Closer.

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