Zoë Saldana Talks Motherhood - and Why She Wants to Encourage Alternative Ways to Start a Family

"It makes me happy when we share aspects of ourselves that we feel very proud of and we're comfortable sharing," Zoë Saldana tells PEOPLE

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Zoë Saldana has taken a pro-active approach to her celebrity and the impact it has on her family and her fans.

As such, the actress and her husband, Marco Perego Saldana, have made calculated decisions about how and what they share of their family with the public — including details about their 2-year-old twins, Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio, and new baby, Zen.

“Marco and I have a great deal of respect for the privacy of our kids, they’re dependent on us so they’re not in a position to make choices for themselves,” Saldana told PEOPLE, while doing press for her recent partnership with Japan’s All Nippon Airways.

“We have to choose for them and part of that is giving them the anonymity that they need so that they can feel safe and not aware of anything around them. When cameras are in their faces, it would probably be traumatizing for a child who has yet to understand what’s going on. This is the path that we’ve chosen, we have to wait for their choices to be heard so in the meantime, we need to protect their environment and we’re all about that.”

The Guardians of the Galaxy star also understands and appreciates the public interest in her life and chooses to focus on the positive aspects, and how her actions can inspire others.

“Sharing my life to an extent that I feel comfortable with, with the purpose of inspiring others to aspire better for themselves, is a goal of mine,” she says. “It makes me happy when we share aspects of ourselves that we feel very proud of and we’re comfortable sharing and has a positive reception.”

One of those things of which she’s exceedingly proud and happy is their family’s new addition — though they’re not quite ready to tell that full story.

“This is something we’re being very meticulous about because of the process of how we completed our family,” says Saldana. “When we’re there, when the time comes and our third baby is a little older, and all the forces that helped us have him with us are comfortable then we will share it because we know it would be very positive and inspiring to many families that are looking to complete themselves and are not able to do it in the conventional way.”

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The mom of three adds, “Seeking alternative ways to start a family should be encouraged, should be empowered and I think we should spread that education, that information out there, when the time is right.”

For more on Zoë Saldana, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.