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Though her career brought many opportunities, Raquel says there is a personal cost. "When I'm running around the world and being Miss Sex Symbol and having this big career in film and everything and I'm running from place to place, I couldn't always be with my children when I wanted to be," she says. "Eventually, I could see that this was taking its toll on my kids, and it used to just break my heart."

Even when she was home, Raquel says she wasn't always present. In some birthday cards, Raquel says she signed "Raquel" instead of "Mom" because she was so used to autographs. "I was often preoccupied," she says. "I felt loving toward them and I would tuck them in and I would soothe them, but it wasn't the same as being there for them as a mother 24/7."

Today, Raquel says she has a great relationship with her kids, but it took work. "I just started out realizing that I really needed to swim out to the wave. I needed to take a lot more initiative and just keep letting them know that I wanted to be there in their lives with them, that I had something I could offer to them," she says. "Little by little, the disappointment or the lack of confidence they had in me melted away."

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