Talking exclusively to People magazine, the 37-year-old first-time mum, whose daughter with husband Will Kopelman was born back in September, opened up about the most important role of her life.

“It’s positively the best moment of my life. As life gets shorter, the stakes get higher. And this is the most important thing I will ever do,” she told the magazine.

Drew, who married Will in June, said she wasn’t prepared for how much her life would change when she became a mother.

“I couldn't eat or sleep for two weeks, I was just so nervous! You have the highest highs and yet you're facing the biggest fear of, ‘How do I keep someone alive?',” she said.

While her own upbringing wasn’t so conventional, with Drew battling drug addiction as a young actress and checking into rehab at just 13 years old, she is determined her daughter won’t follow in her footsteps.

“I’m trying to figure out how to do things differently than when I grew up. I’ve got some really great blueprints of what not to do.”

Luckily her art consultant husband has a “strong family life”, and the pair are confident this will provide a strong upbringing for their daughter.

“He provides a strong family… for people who didn’t have the strongest families… if you can create that, you have a second chance. It’s like a miracle,” she said.

Drew recently revealed the idea behind her daughter’s name, telling talk-show queen Ellen DeGeneres that it was all Will’s idea.

“I never would have guessed that would have been the name. But I was reading a book with my husband,” she said. “I was three months pregnant and they said your baby is the size of an olive, and that was it. We never looked back!”