Anna Faris on Her Past Struggle to Connect with Her Stepkids: 'Why Don't They Like Me?'

Anna Faris may be a mom to her own 10-year-old son Jack, but she initially struggled to connect with the two children her husband, cinematographer Michael Barrett, has from a previous marriage.

In the new issue of PEOPLE, Faris, 45, admits she "felt very immature" when she first started spending time with Barrett's kids. "I wanted to be a kid like them. I was listening to music so loudly, I was embarrassing them. I was always like, 'Why don't they like me?'"

Faris answers her own question. "I think that I didn't give them a ton of reason to cultivate a trusting relationship, because I also think, when you're an actor, your…interactions are different than with most people," she says.

"Most people, even if they don't care for you, are really kind to you, which of course, inflates your ego or whatever, and you just don't tend to have a ton of rude or normal interactions," continues Faris. "And I think that I didn't respect the idea that I have a completely different relationship with them."

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Over time, though, they have bonded. "I have this special place in their life where I just get to be supportive. And I have been really working hard on that," says Faris, who shares Jack with her ex-husband, Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt.

Faris met Barrett on the set of the 2018 movie Overboard and the pair eloped in 2021. "I've never been a big wedding person," Faris tells PEOPLE of their decision to marry quietly.

For more on Faris, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE.

A year into their marriage, the couple continues to prioritize time together. "We realized early on that we didn't want to be apart," she says. "There's a feeling of consistent safety and security that I really appreciate."

Barrett even joined Faris in New Orleans earlier this year while she filmed The Estate, a very adult comedy about scheming sisters Savanna (Faris) and Macey (Toni Collette) competing with their cousins (David Duchovny and Rosemarie DeWitt) in a quest to worm their way into the will of their mean, terminally ill aunt Hilda (Kathleen Turner).

After her many turns portraying sweet, bubbly blondes in fan favorites like 2008's The House Bunny, "there's such liberation in getting to play kind of atrocious people," says Faris. "The emphasis for so much of my career felt like the likability factor: 'Is she likable?' That always felt like the mantra. So I had a blast playing Savanna. It nurtured something in me."

The Estate premieres in theaters Nov. 4