Jennifer Love Hewitt knew she had "a job to do" amid her grief.

The 45-year-old actress - who has Autumn, 10, Atticus, nine as well as three-year-old Aidan with her husband Brian Hallisay - lost her mom Patricia Mae in 2012 when she passed away following a battle with cancer and noted that she tried to still "make things magical" during that time for the sake of her children.

She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "My magic for my kids became not sitting in my grief and realising that I had a job to do, I had to make things magical that Christmas.

"It just sort of went on. Magic for me I feel like it's intention. It's a midnset, it's a thing you try to do. You leave room for life to happen because not every day is magical.

"I tried really hard and most of the time I pull it off!"

Meanwhile, the 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' star noted that she has to be "very careful" what she asks for, because the last time she did that, the world was plunged into a series of COVID-19 lockdowns.

She said: "I have to be very careful what I say to the universe because two days before we moved into that house, which was March 17 2020, I stood in that house and said that I wanted to spend more time with children. I said that I did;t want to have to go to work all the time and I just wanted to be. And if there was another little magical spirit for us, then I wanted to have them.

"So now I want $50 million, a Ford Bronco and my old butt!"