Megan Fox doesn’t play a superhero in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, but she may soon be able to claim super-mom status in real life. The TMNT: Out of the Shadows actress, mother to three-and-a-half-year-old Noah and two-year-old Bodhi, is is expecting another child, and soon she will have three kids under the age of five. While some in that situation might beg for the help of a caped crusader with a burp cloth, Fox is ready to take on the role. And when we fired a barrage of parenting questions her way, she was more than happy to take them on as well. Here’s what she had to say about sleep deprivation, her no-TV policy, bullying and more.

Fandango: Do you have any anxieties going into baby number three or are you feeling like, been there, done that?

Megan Fox: Yes, to a certain degree the actual birthing process for me is always terrifying because it’s so unpredictable. It doesn’t matter how many times you do it, you don’t know exactly how it’s going to go. It’s your child and you want it to be perfect, and you want everyone to be healthy at the end of it. There’s some kind of unknown to it. I’m not afraid of how it will change the family dynamic, I’m very excited about that. I got used to actually sleeping through the night, which is nice, and I’m going to have to give that up again, which is hard. I’m trying to sleep as much as I can now because I know in just a few weeks, I won’t sleep at all. For months.

Fox: Have you ever been pregnant while filming a project? If so, what kind of challenges did you experience?

Fox: I filmed the first Ninja Turtles while I was pregnant. Everything is more challenging while you’re pregnant in that first trimester, [including] working on an action movie where you’re working long hours. I already had one baby, so I’d work through the night and wrap at six a.m. I would be getting home when my oldest son was waking up. There was no time to sleep because I still wanted to be a mother… and not just be at work and sleep whenever he was awake. Trying to balance that was very difficult and then trying to balance that with the nausea and the fatigue you go through the first 16 weeks is really difficult.

Her first outing as April in 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  

Fandango: Do your kids ever visit you on set?

Fox: They don’t. I did bring Noah to set when I was reshooting the first Turtles and he sustained his first injury, tripping over a wire and busted his lip – and I was like, never, ever again will I bring him on set. Sets are very dangerous. There is debris and explosives everywhere. They’re not safe spaces for small children.

Fandango: Reports are that where your kids are concerned, it’s no to TV and yes to movies. Is that right? If so, what are their favorite films?

Fox: That is correct, I don’t let them watch TV because there’s no beginning, middle and end. TV just goes on nonstop forever, and because of advertising and all of that, I don’t allow them to watch it. I do select certain movies I think are appropriate that have positive messaging or visually inspiring. I let them watch Finding Nemo, of course, because I think that’s a positive message and a beautiful movie. And I let Noah watch Peter Pan, which he’s obsessed with – that’s his favorite movie so far.

Fandango: Is there a movie you can’t wait to share with them?

Fox: When they’re much, much older, I’m excited for them to see Jurassic Park because that was a favorite movie of mine when I was younger.

"The challenge is to not be afraid of your individuality and your eccentricities and to embrace those, and to be able to say, 'I don’t need to be like other people.'"

Fandango: You mentioned that you like movies with a positive message that are visually spectacular. Out of the Shadows is both of those things. What were your thoughts when you read the script?

Fox: I love the idea that it’s about these four brothers who’ve been ostracized and isolated because they’re different… so they’ve been forced to live in the darkness. They’re given this opportunity to become like everyone else, but to do that, they’d have to sacrifice that thing that makes them special. Are they willing to do that or are they willing to accept what they were made to be, but know they’ll never fit in – and is that okay? I think that’s a struggle that all people face at some point in their life – especially in childhood with bullying, middle school and high school – the challenge is to not be afraid of your individuality and your eccentricities and to embrace those, and to be able to say, "I don’t need to be like other people, I don’t need to conform. What makes me different is what makes me spectacular." I think everyone should hear and embrace that message.

Fandango: Most people probably think you’ve never been bullied or faced any sort of challenges like that – is that the case?

Fox: I was actually bullied a lot as a child. It started really early in school and lasted all through high school (and I, of course, didn’t go to college). I was always alone and on my own. I used to eat lunch in the bathroom because I was bullied so bad in middle school.… It is a really difficult time because it’s unprovoked. Kids who are bullied are not asking to be bullied, you haven’t done everything wrong, and there really is no explanation for it. It’s not until you’re much, much older when you reflect back and you try and understand, what was the meaning of this, and what are the lessons that can be learned, what did I glean from that and what are the positive seeds that were planted through those experiences? But, I definitely went through that for many, many years.

Fandango: Your character April O’Neill is unflinchingly confident. Is that in the script or is that your interpretation?

Fox: It’s a little bit of me for sure because I’m on a set with a bunch of guys, so I automatically put on my armor and I’m automatically a little tougher. I’m not open-hearted or in nurturer mode, and I feel that’s appropriate for her as well because it’s just her surrounded by a bunch of guys. She has to fight for herself among them, and I thought it was important for her to be as confident as possible in those scenarios. I don’t want her to be vulnerable and compromised, because we see that all the time.

Fandango: Splinter pops in to offer the Turtles some sage words of wisdom. In your life, who is your Splinter?

Fox: I am the Splinter to everyone else’s ninja turtles! I don’t have a mentor or a sensei, I’m always the one being put into that position… which is difficult, by the way, because even the sensei has moments of brokenness and when you have [those], you just have to have conversations with God at that point.

Fox at the August 2014 premiere of TMNT in Los Angeles

Fandango: Okay, so let’s channel your inner Splinter: What words of wisdom can you share with parents about raising a confident child?

Fox: Whew! I think a lot of people underestimate the importance of the interaction between the parents. Kids are extremely perceptive – they hear and they see everything, and they can also detect when you’re being disingenuous. They know when the emotional atmosphere is not matching what you’re telling them, so if something is wrong but you’re insisting everything is okay, a child grows up receiving mixed messages. They may not be able to process and assimilate the mental with emotional, and it causes problems for all of us who’ve been raised that way.

So, my message is to be as genuine with your kids as you can in every moment, and it’s okay to admit failure, and it’s okay to be humble as a parent and say, "You know what? I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have made that decision, I shouldn’t have said that, you were right." A lot of parents refuse to admit to the child that the child was right and that the parent made a mistake, because they feel they have to maintain this sort of kingly status so the child will always listen and respect them, and I find that is not the case. The best thing you can do is be open and humble with your kids.

TMNT: Out of the Shadows comes to theaters June 3.