Kelly Rutherford Is "Going Through A Very Challenging Time"

Though she is going through a tough time with a nasty divorce and the finalization of a restraining order against her estranged husband Daniel Giersch, Kelly Rutherford is managing to stay positive.

“I have it very lucky even though in my personal life right now I’m going through a very challenging time,” she tells PEOPLE at the DSW Presents: Step Up & Step Out brunch in Manhattan on September 26. “I do know that there are women that I can help somehow because they’re going through a much tougher time.”

Kelly also says that she turns to her mother for support: “My mom’s been through it too. I mean, not in the way that I’m going through it, but she understands. She is hysterical. She sent me that Christina Aguilera song “Stronger” and that’s when I’m laughing and crying at the same time, like, ‘Mom, I love you!’”

The 40-year-old actress is thoroughly enjoying family life with her two children, especially witnessing her 2-year-old song Hermés becoming a big brother to 3-month-old baby Helena: “He gets up in the morning and he gives her a kiss and goes ‘tickle, tickle!’ He talks about her and how she can’t eat yet, and he’s so luck he can have ice cream, and her can’t wait to introduce her [to it]. It’s really cute.”

Kelly has recently gone back to work filming Gossip Girl in New York City.