The 49-year-old actress shares two teenagers with her husband, Michael Douglas.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas do their best to keep their kids humble.
ET caught up with the 49-year-old actress at the New York City junket for her new Facebook Watch series, Queen America, where she opened up about how her two kids -- Carys, 15, and Dylan, 18 -- stay grounded with two famous parents.
“They've kinda been removed from the crazy world of Hollywood or even the crazy world of Manhattan,” Zeta-Jones revealed. “The teenagers here in Manhattan, there's a maturity that comes too quick I think.”
“We've kind of shielded them away, but they're incredibly mature for their tender years,” she added. “They get it, and that's just a thing [where] I think that I just got lucky.”
Despite doing their best to keep their kids away from the public eye, both Carys and Dylan are interested in entering the family business.
“The other night we had my son on FaceTime saying something about some role and then my daughter, who was auditioning for her school play,” Zeta-Jones recalled. “I'm talking about my show, [Douglas’] talking about his show. We both went, like, ‘This is four actors at one table, it's too much.’”
Though they clearly and unconditionally support their children, Zeta-Jones revealed that she and her husband, 74, would be honest with their kids if they didn’t think the teens had “it.” Thankfully, it’s a scenario they haven’t had to face.
“We'd be the first to say, ‘I don't know whether they got it.’ [We wouldn’t] say that blatantly to them, but [we’d] kinda guide them towards something else,” she said. “But it's so evidently clear that they have it and they get it. They know it's a craft. It's not a quick fix of getting a YouTube show.”
That promise of honesty is something that applies throughout the whole of Zeta-Jones’ relationship with both her kids, especially with her daughter.
“My daughter and I have a really, really close relationship. I always say to her, ‘A problem shared is a problem halved.’ You just speak it out,” Zeta-Jones said. “I'm so blessed that I have that very liberal communication with her."
“She has a wonderful communication with myself and her father,” Zeta-Jones added. “It's not just, ‘Oh I'll speak to mum about that.’ I think that's just Michael and I encouraging that at a very early age and then being around dinner tables where we talk very openly about everything and freely and all that stuff, so I'm very lucky.”
In Queen America, Zeta-Jones plays Vicki Ellis, a ruthless beauty pageant coach in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who must train an untested contestant. The “dark comedy” that the actress describes as “funny… poignant… kind of sad and distressing,” deals with body image and other serious topics. For Zeta-Jones, she’s thankful that that’s one battle Carys hasn’t had to fight.
“My daughter is very athletic. She's a dancer,” Zeta-Jones said. “She's very fortunate that at this tender age she hasn't had any of those issues that we address in the show.”
A new episode of Queen America premieres Sunday on Facebook Watch.
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