Michelle Pfeiffer: "There Are Things Only A Mother Notices"

It's hard to believe Michelle Pfeiffer is 51 years old. Making the media rounds in recent weeks to promote her new film, Cheri, the actress looks as gorgeous as ever.

After years spent focusing on her career - and earning herself multiple Oscar nominations - the mom-of-two made the decision a decade or so ago to spend more time at home with her kids Claudia and John.

"When they were little, I would just throw them in a suitcase and we'd go everywhere, and once they got in school I didn't feel that was fair to them," Michelle tells Canadian newspaper The Globe & Mail. "My daughter's 16, and it really hit me how little time I have left with her, and my son, he's 14, I only have four years left with him."

Michelle, who has been married to producer David E. Kelley for 15 years, says that though the kids didn't seem to suffer while she was away working, she didn't feel comfortable being apart from them.

"There are things only a mother notices. So you can't be away for too long. I'll leave, and people are there, and taking care of things, and they're running great, and I come back - everybody's happy, things are running smoothly - and I'm out of sync, you know? There's this sort of rhythm that's happening, and you're not a part of it. It takes a while to fall back in."

Now that her children are growing up, Michelle admits she can't help but think of the day they leave home: "I know I'll have serious empty-nest syndrome."