Reese Witherspoon "feels sick" away from kids

Reese Witherspoon has revealed that she doesn't like spending time away from her children.

The Walk the Line actress, who has daughter Ava, 11, and 7-year-old son Deacon with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, explained that she "feels sick" when she can't see her kids for a few days.

She told Elle: "There's this fallacy that we can have it all. I get it often, 'Oh, you have it all' - and I don't. It's hard.

"There are times when I take two years off and I don't work. And there are times I go to work and I feel sick because I can't see my kids for five days.

"And it's real hard to go. My work is important to me; the kids are important to me; my relationship is important to me. But all three of those things can't be functioning at 100% at all times. You'll make yourself crazy."

The 35-year-old, who married Hollywood agent Jim Toth, said that she likes being challenged in her career.

She commented: "I'm a doer. If there's a task in front of me, I want to do it, get it done, get it done well, wrap it up and move on to the next task.

"I'm a worker, you know? When I started out, it wasn't a design that I wanted to accomplish a certain amount of things. But it was, like, finish that movie, it was a comedy. 'Would really like to do a drama now.' Do a drama, going to work really hard on this accent. 'What's my next challenge?' I like to have challenges. That's fun for me."