Monica Bellucci thinks her children are prodigies.

The Italian actress - who has Deva, eight, and two-year-old Leonie, with her French husband Vincent Cassel - is stunned by her young daughters' multilingual skills and many talents and doesn't know where they get them from.

Monica mused: ''I don't know; they're not me, they're not Vincent. They're just themselves. I said to my kids that they are already better than me, 'You speak Portuguese without any accent, I don't. You play the piano, I don't. And you're only eight. You'll be amazing.''

'The Matrix Reloaded' star is known for her glamorous look, but insists she doesn't live a luxurious lifestyle and the most important things to her are family and friends.

She explained: ''For me luxury is freedom. The freedom to go where I want to go and do what I want to do. I'm more attached to people than things. That's why I have a family and a lot of friends because I like women, they inspire me. But things? No.''

The 48-year-old beauty thinks her Italian heritage is deeply rooted in her nature and despite the jet-setting lifestyle her career affords her, she will always be Italian at heart.

She added to Stylist magazine: ''Even though I travel around the world, I'm Italian; it's in my heart and I think I really am the place where I come from. I like the food, seeing my friends and my family is very important; all that comes from my culture. I keep Italian traditions going without even realising. It's in my DNA.''