Julianne Moore wasn't happy before she started a family.

The 'Still Alice' star said: "I was lonely. I don't think I felt happy. I didn't have the kind of personal life I wanted.

"I spent my twenties working hard and trying to get to wherever there was, which wasn't really anywhere. It was just a job, and I really wanted a family."

The Oscar nominee says she eventually made a conscious decision to focus on building the personal life she craved rather than on her career.

She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I discovered that [a family] was as important as my professional life. I didn't spend the time; I didn't invest. One thing I used to tell my women friends was, 'There's an expectation that your personal life is going to happen to you, but you're going to have to make your career happen. And that's not true.' You have to make your personal life happen as much as your career."

Meanwhile, Julianne says she gave up on the idea of religion after the death of her mother.

She said: "I learned when my mother died five years ago that there is no 'there' there. Structure, it's all imposed. We impose order and narrative on everything in order to understand it. Otherwise, there's nothing but chaos."