Leslie Mann feels "really lucky" to be a working mother.
Mann - who has children Iris, 11, and Maude, 15, with husband Judd Apatow - knows females in their 40s don't necessarily find it easy to get their careers back on track after taking breaks to raise their families.
Leslie, 42, said: "It's fun to be able to work like this at my age.
"I'm so lucky I was able to have a career when I was younger and I was able to have my kids and stay home with them.
"And now that I get to work again? I mean, I am really lucky. I have a lot of 'mom friends' who aren't in my industry and they talk about how tricky it is now their kids are older and they want to go back to work. Getting back into the workforce isn't as easy at 40 as it is at 20."
The 'This is 40' actress relies heavily on her group of close friends and doesn't know how she would cope without them.
She told Stylist magazine: "I don't know what I'd do without my girlfriends. I have the same best friends I've had since middle school and they're super, they have my back and I have theirs.
"I love spending time with my husband but I really need my girlfriends."
Mann has returned to the big screen this weekend in new comedy The Other Woman with Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton.
The Other Woman is out now.
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