Nicole Kidman – who has two children with her ex-husband Tom Cruise and two more with current partner Keith Urban – says she enjoys being the caretaker in her family. In fact, she believes to have inherited the maternal need to care for everyone around her.

She told New York magazine: “I still have a very strong relationship with them. I feel maternal to most people. In my family, I’m very much the caretaker. My husband always says, ‘You can’t save the world, Nicole,’ but I think it’s just an inherent part of me.

The love is abundant, and it doesn’t just evaporate or disappear – it’s just there, and it is a bottomless well. It will always be there, which is a beautiful thing to say to a child, ‘You’ll never be abandoned. The love will always be there for you.’ It’s an important thing to hear that as a child. I beyond need it. Yes, I still need the acknowledgment.”

And the Eyes Wide Shut actress says that love for a child is indescribable, adding: “The love for a child is the most intense, profound, deeply felt thing that will ever transpire through your body to another human being. It’s cataclysmic. It changes you. The sensations and the power of it. I mean, you see cars are lifted.”

Meanwhile, the star had previously opened up about her marital problems, as she had to learn to be patient while her husband battled alcohol addiction.

She explained: “[I’d advise them] to get help. To put your hand up, to reach out. There is absolutely help out there. You can’t save somebody, they’ve got to save themselves.

It is a very big thing for people like me who go, ‘I can take care of you. I can do it.’ At some point, you just have to say, ‘I love you and I’m here when you decide to do the work. If you don’t, then that’s it.’ It’s not easy, but there’s an extraordinary life if you do get there through help.”