Mary-Louise ParkerMary-Louise Parker has said she drew on her own experiences as a mum to make her character in new film The Spiderwick Chronicles more believable.

Mary-Louise plays Helen Grace, the mum of faery-befrienders Jared, Simon and Mallory in the movie adaptation of the much loved children’s books and she said recently: “I hope I’m a better mother [than her character] in some ways, and I’d like to be as good as her in others.”

“I mean, every parent fails. That’s what I like about this character, she’s not perfect. She loses her temper, she’s impatient, she makes bad decisions like most parents.”

Mary-Louise is currently dating Grey’s Anatomy actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan but has no regrets about being a single mum: “I think about my children 25 hours a day. I think about my children as I walk in the door, so I don’ t think in terms of ‘oh if my life were…’ That’s not good for them. Your children suffer when you have one foot in the past.”