Los Angeles, Sep 23 (IANS): Actress Zoe Saldana spoke about her upcoming role in the Reese Witherspoon-produced Netflix series 'From Scratch', the mom of three attributes having kids to help keep her youthful.

After noting that Saldana looks nearly the same in 'From Scratch' as she did two decades ago in her film Center Stage, the actress teases, "It's like Benjamin Button, I'll take that as a compliment," reports People.

"I think having children keeps me out of trouble a lot," she continues.

"I go to bed early. I eat better. I sleep longer sometimes. I'm back to sleeping."

"I was having a lot of problems with my sleep. Whereas right before I had them, I was very much of the policy of work hard, play hard," she explains.

"And I loved my life like that. But I feel like having children happened at the right time for me because in your mid-thirties to late thirties, early forties, that's when you go to bed thinking that you're one thing, and you wake up feeling like something else."

"And I started having kids during that time. So that saved me from a lot," she adds.

Saldana and husband Marco Perego are parents to twin boys Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio, 7, plus their 5-year-old little brother Zen Anton Hilario.

The 'Avatar' actress, 44, shared back in 2020 about being a mom to all three boys.

"The third one was supposed to be [a daughter] and then my husband just doesn't give any girls," Saldana joked.

"I would have been great as a mother of daughters, but the universe, in its irony, and how I became a mom of three boys in the post-#MeToo movement [means] I'm accepting the challenge."

Saldana said she was "having such a wonderful time" as a mom of sons, "because that means I get to witness and really nurture a young boy before he turns into a man, and I think that that's the task for us mothers, as well."

Teaching her sons not to conform to gender stereotypes, the actress said it has "been a treat because allowing your boys to be vulnerable and sensible and not just allowing them to fight physically because, 'Oh, boys will be boys' - those kinds of terms just don't exist in our home."

"'Daddy's little girl' and 'Mama's boys,' we don't have that," Saldana added at the time.

"My husband is the father and I'm the mother, but we are (both active) participants in the upbringing of (our kids) and that's really important."