Drew Barrymore insists "nothing has changed" since she got divorced

She said: "I have this big family that came with my kids, because I love my kids' grandparents and cousins - and we're all so close that it's as if nothing has changed, really."

The 42-year-old actress admitted her devotion to her daughters can be bother a "curse and blessing" because she always worries about getting the balance right between her work and raising her kids.

She told the Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine: "It's a mother's curse and blessing to care so much about their kids.

"Every parent probably feels this way: like it's never enough, and you want to do more. I know I'm working hard, but when my children are first in my life that's when I have the balance right."

The 'Charlie's Angels' actress also values her friendship with the likes of Cameron Diaz and Gwyneth Paltrow and looks forward to their vacations.

She said: "They're everything - my girlfriends were my original family.

"They are who I have always turned to, so they're right up there with what's most important to me. A lot of us are parents now and we can get so lost in parenthood.

"But we take a lot of trips together and it reminds you that you are an individual and you did have a life before the kids. We have these mass text chains and someone will say, 'OK, this place, these dates,' and suddenly everyone's going, 'Ding ding ding, let's go run free together as women.' "