Brooke Shields: I'm a survivor

Brooke Shields thinks her survival instinct is particularly strong.

The actress and her late mother, Teri, had a troubled relationship, with the now 49-year-old often having to look after her alcoholic parent.

She wrote a book about the experience, There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me, and is keen to ensure the past does not repeat itself.

"There's always a solution, always a way out," she explained to German magazine Myway when asked her advice on overcoming low points. "I have a particularly strong survival instinct. And a strong emotional urge to do the right things in life, because I've hopefully learnt from my experiences."

The star and her husband Chris Henchy have two daughters together, Rowan, 11, and eight-year-old Grier. She's keen to protect her girls, especially when it comes to the internet. Brooke realises showbiz sexualised her from a young age and she doesn't want the same to happen to her children.

"When my 11-year-old is playing on her phone either I or the babysitter have to be in the room. There is certain information out there that young people just can't take in," she reasoned.

It's one of the only things Brooke is strict about, otherwise willing her daughters to have a childhood that leaves them free to become their own people.

"My husband and my kids are my rock," she smiled. "Without them, I would feel like half of me was missing."