Mother worries for Reese Witherspoon

Jan 5, 2010, 6:03 GMT

Reese Witherspoon worries about the impact her work has on her family.

The actress finds it difficult when she is parted from her two children - Ava, ten, and Deacon, six - while she is shooting movies, but couldn't contemplate giving up her career.

She said: "Sometimes it's really difficult for me, being far away from home. Los Angeles is where my job is and I have to be close, but I never imagined that my children wouldn't grow up next door to my brother's children. Or that my mom and dad wouldn't constantly be around.

"You know, I had dinner every night with my grandparents as a kid, so I think missing out on that is a hard compromise."

The 33-year-old Hollywood star has to work "incredibly hard" for three months and then make the most of her long breaks with her kids - whose father is ex-husband Ryan Phillippe.

She said in a interview with InStyle magazine: "I love my life without work and I love my life with work. It's about really enjoying my time off.

"You consider certain things but you just have to keep going. You have to keep it together for your kids and for yourself too. I'm trying to learn from the things that happened in my life, live more in the moment and have more fun."