Christina Ricci Is a 'Completely Different Person' Than She Was Before Motherhood: A Baby 'Forces You to Grow Up'

"When I was a child, I was told, 'Life is just not fair, honey, and you've got to make the best of it,' " Christina Ricci tells The Edit magazine

Photo: Photograph by Steven Pan, Courtesy of The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com

Christina Ricci has graduated from child actress to grown-up Hollywood icon — whose most important role nowadays is Mom.

The star of Z: The Beginning of Everything sat down with Net-a-Porter’s digital magazine The Edit to dish on everything from growing up in the spotlight, her blonde tresses (which she loves, contrary to what many who first knew her as Wednesday Addams might believe), and her new life as a mother to son Freddie, 2½.

“Marriage shows you your flaws in how you deal with things, and having a child forces you to grow up at the speed of light,” says Ricci, 37, who married James Heerdegen in 2013.

She adds, “I’m a completely different person than I was before I had my child.”

Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.

Photograph by Steven Pan, Courtesy of The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com

Ricci, who plays Zelda Fitzgerald in the Amazon Video series, doesn’t have any acting projects lined up at the moment — “My life is mainly play-dates,” she admits contentedly — but a three-decade career in Hollywood and solid adult advice from the get-go have given her a well-rounded outlook on life.

“When I was a child, I was told, ‘Life is just not fair, honey, and you’ve got to make the best of it,’ ” recounts the star, whose first movie role was that of swimming sensation Kate Flax in the 1990 Cher– and Winona Ryder-led coming-of-age dramedy Mermaids.

“I don’t think anyone is telling their kids that anymore, and it’s important,” the veteran actress continues. “Life isn’t fair; the right thing doesn’t always happen for you.”

Photograph by Steven Pan, Courtesy of The EDIT, NET-A-PORTER.com

Ricci admits that it took her a while to grow up in a sense, explaining, “Because I was so celebrated for being a child, I think I held onto that immaturity for a very long time.”

She adds, “It was the thing that made me special. Then at a certain point, like, 35, it’s not so special to be immature.”

FROM COINAGE: See Where 6 Stars Were Before They Were Famous

But maturity is something the actress has long since come by — and is a trait she credits her experiences in creating a family for helping her develop.

“I think the latest developments in my life have grounded me,” she told PEOPLE in January. “My agent has been with me since I was 10 years old and she’s a brilliant, grounded woman, so she’s responsible for that element.”

“But also really, it was getting married and having a child,” she says.

Click here for The Edit‘s full interview with Christina Ricci.