Julianne Moore has revealed how her late mother was the inspiration for her latest children's book.

The Carrie actress has spent her off-screen time writing My Mom Is A Foreigner, But Not To Me - inspired by her Scottish mother Anne Love Smith, a psychologist and social worker who died suddenly in 2009 following an embolism.

The star's mum was a month from retirement and Julianne was on a plane to see her at the time, so never got to say goodbye.

"It never goes away. It's the greatest loss of my life," said the actress. She was my role model, the one who told me I could do anything I wanted to do. She was only 20 years older than I was, so I had an expectation that we'd be old ladies together.

"You don't cope. People have this idea that grief is something you get over, but I don't think you ever get over that kind of a loss. It's simply folded into your life and becomes an unfortunate reality.

"Certainly, having children's a great help. My mother was great, so it's my responsibility to be the kind of mother that she'd been to me to my own children."

Her picture book pays homage to all mothers who come from different countries, celebrating the diverse world we live in.

"My mother came here [to the US] from Scotland when she was 10 years old. It's a challenging thing. In the United States we talk so much about assimilation, that we're all multicultural and we all assimilate, but that was not my experience growing up. My experience was that my mother was very Scottish.

"She was only 20 when I was born and she hadn't changed or become 'Americanised'. When I was growing up, she'd say, 'Remember you are not American'."

The tales in the book are reflective of the experiences Julianne had as a youngster, having a 'foreign' mum. "People would say, 'Why does your mom talk so funny?' I knew that she was different. She'd always braid my hair, we'd eat different kinds of food. Even something as simple as a mince pie, which we'd have at Christmas, other Americans didn't have."

:: My Mom Is A Foreigner, But Not To Me by Julianne Moore is published by Chronicle Books, priced £10.99. Available now.