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Reese Witherspoon gets real about parenting: 'If you aren't yelling at your kids, you're not spending enough time with them'

She might be a world famous actress, but for Reese Witherspoon family always comes first. The 40-year-old recently opened up about the pressures of parenting, and revealed that sometimes tough love is the best way to raise her three children. "We have rules around the house," she told Entertainment Tonight. "I always say if you aren't yelling at your kids you're not spending enough time with them. [I'm] just telling everyone to clean up all the time."

The American star - who is currently promoting new musical Sing, which also stars Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson - is mother to 17-year-old Ava, 13-year-old Deacon and four-year-old Tennessee. "People know not to call me before 8:15, because 8:15 is when everybody needs to either be on the bus or at school and then my whole life starts at 8:15," she added.

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Reese Witherspoon has talked about the pressures of parenting

Reese, who was 23-years-old when she gave birth to Ava, previously opened up to Glamour magazine about motherhood, saying: "I didn't know what I was doing. I was young. It was shocking. When people ask, 'When's the best time to get pregnant?' I say, 'Pick the best day for when your entire life is gonna change.'

"There's no good time to have your world turned upside down. Seeing my kids for the first time was primal. The ferocity of love you feel for your children when you see them for the first time – but you've known them inside you – is phenomenal."

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"If you aren't yelling at your kids you're not spending enough time with them," she said

The acclaimed actress, most famous for her role in Legally Blonde, has also been busy producing and starring as Madeline Mackenzie in Big Little Lies, which is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty. The story follows three mothers who have children in the same class at school but their 'perfect lives begin to unravel.' The tension between the parents slowly grows until a murder is committed.