Reese Witherspoon: I want my kids to have passion

Reese Witherspoon wants her children to "grow up with passion".

The ‘Wild’ star – who has Ava, 17, and Deacon, 13, with her ex-spouse Ryan Phillippe and Tennessee, four, with her husband Jim Toth – likes her children to know how hard she works as she feels it will make them hard workers too.

She said: "My mom worked, and I think it’s good for kids to see women working and being successful. I think it’s going to make them hard workers because they see that I don’t get much sleep.

"I’m just trying to hold on, trying to make it through. My older kids help with the little one. It’s nice to have a big family … I want them to grow up with passion. This is the one life you get, and you have to live it to the very end."

And the 40-year-old actress feels "much more confident" now she is older.

She told the December issue of InStyle magazine: "I’ve realised that life is too short to spend my time with anybody who doesn’t appreciate me, treat me with respect or bring value to the relationship. I’m much more confident now, and I feel like I have the ability to say, ‘Nope, I don’t want to work with that person.’"

Meanwhile, Reese previously revealed she is trying to do the best she "possibly can" with her three kids.

She shared: "No one’s really doing it perfectly. I think you love your kids with your whole heart, and you do the best you possibly can …

"There are some sacrifices you make, and it hurts your heart sometimes, but my kids tell me they’re proud of what I’ve accomplished, and that just means everything. I grew up with a working mom, and I have so much respect for the things she did as a nurse and a teacher. I would never begrudge her that."