Hollywood star Reese Withersppon says she became a "better person" when she had her daughter Ava and always chooses her roles with her child in mind, as she wants to promote positive female role models.

Witherspoon has two children -- Ava, 20, and Deacon, 16 -- with former-husband Ryan Phillippe, and seven-year-old Tennessee with spouse Jim Toth.

"From the time I had her, when I was 22, it changed my entire view of the world. It made me a better person, I became less of an asshole, honestly. Now, it's really important for me to see how women are perceived and how women are written in a show," Witherspoon told OK!, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

She added: "Plus, who directs and who creates the show is important to me as well. We all struggle to do the right thing and put great work into the world for our kids, so they see an accurate representation of the world."

The "Legally Blonde" actress set up her own production company to develop projects she wanted to see. Witherspoon says she's proud of what she's done.

She said: "Before this, I was seeing a complete lack of interesting characters for women on screen and it really bothered me. I was seeing fantastic actresses all clamouring for one horrible part as 'the wife' or 'the girlfriend'. I thought, 'These women have so much more to offer.'"

Witherspoon added: "We are 50 per cent of the population after all, so we should be telling 50% of the stories. I thought to myself, 'Well if no one else is going to develop the material, then I will.' And that's exactly what I've done. I've called the authors of books that interest me.

"I've called the heads of studios and I've set things up. "It's time for women to see our real lives portrayed."