Blake Lively Confesses She Struggles to Be Present With Family While Working: 'Sometimes You Feel Guilty'

Blake Lively may look like she breezes through motherhood and her career as if she’s in a shampoo commercial, but she struggles with work-life balance just like any working parent.

In a new interview with her It Ends With Us co-star Jenny Slate, Lively told Entertainment Tonight she felt a kinship with Slate because they both experienced the same disconnect between work and home life while filming the book adaptation.

“Both of us really love our personal lives a lot,” the mom of four began. “And we love our job, and we love our work, and we take it very, very seriously, and we work very, very, very hard, and we completely immerse ourselves in our work,” Lively explained. “But who we are is defined by our personal life so much more than our work,” she asserted. “We can be both of those things at once.”

The Gossip Girl alum explained how difficult it can be to mentally and emotionally balance work and motherhood, confessing she has a hard time connecting with one due to being “distracted” by the other. “When you’re working sometimes you feel guilty for, you know, not being in your personal life in those hours you’re at work,” Lively said. “And then when you’re at work, you feel guilty by being distracted by wishing that you were at your personal life.”

The It Ends With Us star concluded, “Two things can be true: we can love our work and our work can be very important to us and we can be all in on our work, and we can also love our personal life and it can be important to us and we can be all in [there].”

Lively shares three daughters, James, 9, Inez, 7, and Betty, 4, and a son, Olin, 1, with husband Ryan Reynolds. Though their acting projects typically aren’t a family affair, the recently released Deadpool & Wolverine did allow the whole crew to get involved on set.

While Reynolds starred as the former titular character, three of the couple’s four kids had cameos in the superhero flick. James played a “Screaming Mutant,” Inez played “Kidpool,” and Olin played “Babypool.” Though Betty didn’t appear onscreen, she was hilariously credited as “Hugh Jackman Wrangler: Betty Reynolds” in the movie’s end credits. Even Lively was in the film, starring as “Ladypool.” The Marvel project was a special moment for the family for many reasons, and being able to collaborate on it together is surely one of the most significant.

Before you go, check out Blake Lively’s best quotes about being a mom.