Monica Bellucci "needed to go through the experience" of having children.

The 47-year-old actress has two daughters with her husband Vincent Cassel; Deva, eight, and three-year-old Leonie. Monica has revealed how she came to decide on starting a family with her French partner.

"It was the perfect time. In my life, I do things late. I need to be calm, and to know and feel things are right. I'm sure there are great 20-year-old mothers, but I wasn't into children at that age. Now I feel differently. I can stay with them without feeling as if I'm losing something," she told Style magazine.

"I would have been disappointed," she added when asked if she would have minded not having kids. "But it's different for every woman. I have so many friends who don't have children and are happy. Being a woman isn't about having children. But for me, I needed to go through the experience."

Monica is glad she waited to have children. The Italian actress wants to devote as much time as possible to her young girls.

"I try to organise my time according to them, because they need me. I don't want to put my work first anymore, because it's not as important," she explained.

"I organise my time very well - I don't like to miss my children."