Annette Bening Looks Back at Being ‘Extremely Pregnant’ at 1999 Oscars: 'I Was Just About to Give Birth'

The actress shares her kids Stephen, Benjamin, Isabel and Ella with husband Warren Beatty

Annette Bening always knew she would be a mom.

While appearing on Tuesday's episode of Today, the actress, 65, chatted with host Savannah Guthrie, 52, about her four kids — Stephen, 32, Benjamin, 29, Isabel, 27, and Ella, 23 — whom she shares with husband Warren Beatty, 86. Asked what kind of mom she is, Bening says she "always aspired to be like my mom, I still do."

"I wasn't a perfect mom. I think I did pretty damn good, especially for working and everything. But I always, always wanted to be a mom, from when I was a little kid," Bening continues.

"Like, my mother wouldn't have more kids — maybe that was part of it? So I was the kid in the neighborhood who was always babysitting and hanging out with the little ones. It was just in my DNA."

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Related: Annette Bening Opens Up About Her Transgender Son Stephen Ira: 'I'm Very, Very Proud of Him'

The star also reflected on her time at the 1999 Oscars when she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for American Beauty. Bening is nominated for the award again this year for her role as Diana Nyad in Nyad.

"It is exciting and nerve-wracking. It's so funny you asked me this because one time I was nominated I was extremely pregnant," the mom of four remembers. "I was just about to give birth, and I know how many years ago it was because that's my almost 24-year-old."

"So I remember that night and just the baby was moving so much because of the adrenaline that was coursing through my system. My husband, Warren Beatty, got a big award that night, so that's one that I'm remembering," she says.

In April 2022, Bening's daughter Isabel shared a photo on her Twitter account in celebration of her dad's birthday. Isabel hugged her dad and brother Benjamin as they cozied up on a couch before Beatty received a chocolate cake with candles, in honor of the actor's 85th birthday.

"Deleting this in a lil bit but i think its sooo sweet so i post," she captioned the candid. Later, she commented, "Not deleting, the energy is too sweet to delete !"

Looking back on all he's accomplished, Beatty told PEOPLE in 2016, "People always ask why I don't work more. The truth is, it's because I've also had a life."

"The biggest thing that's ever happened to me is my children and Annette," the star said at the time. "That's bigger than fame, and it came not a moment too soon."

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