WENN

Dakota Fanning has credited her scary mom for keeping her grounded as a child star.

The actress was seven when she landed her first major role, opposite Sean Penn, in I Am Sam, and she has tasted continued film success since, minus the drama associated with other young stars' private lives.

Dakota tells Vogue there are no lessons she can teach anyone to keep them out of the tabloids and out of trouble, but she thinks her no-nonsense mother was a big help.

"I've always maintained that I never felt that I was entitled to anything because I did movies," she tells the publication. "I guess that comes from my mom. It took her years and years to admit that we lived in Los Angeles… I just never wanted to make too big of a mistake that jeopardized what I love doing.

"I never wanted it to be taken away from me, because I had made a really bad decision, you know? I'm also really scared of my mom and didn't want to get in trouble or disappoint anybody."

Heather Fanning clearly knows how to raise actress daughters – Dakota's younger sister Elle has also mapped out a career as a film star while growing up in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Dakota also tells Vogue she's dating, insisting her boyfriend is not "a public person".

"I've always sort of dated somebody a little bit removed… I see the whirlwind of (famous) people dating (famous) people and it just looks so intense."