Mother-to-be Zoe Saldana had quite the role model in her own mom.

The pregnant star of "The Book of Life" recently revealed that she was bullied as a child during an interview on "The Queen Latifah Show" and she explained that it was her mother who helped her survive that tough period in her life.

While sitting down with host Latifah, Saldana confessed that she had a difficult time making friends with other girls as a youngster.

"It was really hard. Because I love women. There was for a long time in my life when I was younger, I sort of gave up on trying to find female friends. Because girls can some times be a little too mean with each other," explained the pregnant 36-year-old star. "And I don't know where it comes from, as opposed to us uniting, we tend to pick each other apart. It was very, very difficult. I remember my mom always stood by us."

According to Saldana, her mother, Asalia Nazario, knew just the right thing to say when it came to her kids dealing with bullies.

"She would talk it through. She never uplifted us by putting some one else down," said the actress. "See, she would try to make us understand, look there is probably something going on in their lives, or you need to understand, as a person, nobody bullies when they're happy."

"So the bully is the unhappiest person around you at that moment," added Saldana, echoing her mother. "They're so unhappy he has to come and other somebody else. Once you know all these things, and you know he is the one that feels most scared, the bully is the one that has very little regard for himself, very poor self-esteem."

Saldana, who is reportedly expecting twin boys with husband Marco Perego, told Latifah that she has learned the key to defeating your harshest critics: self-love.

"Once you understand that reality about a bully, you have won already. And you stick to the people that make you feel really good about yourself. But the one person that has to feel good about yourself is you," said Saldana. "It takes practice. It's not easy. You wake up and, and now, are you kidding me? Nothing fits. I look in the mirror...What are you going to do? You put something on. You practice the 'I'm beautiful. This is me. This is as good as it is going to get and it is great.'"