Paula Patton's son is her most "valuable" possession.

The Hollywood actress stars in ABC's new thriller series 'Somewhere Between' as desperate mother Laura Price who goes to extreme lengths to save her eight-year-old daughter.

The 41-year-old star can relate to her alter-ego as life has thrown plenty of surprises her way, but her seven-year-old son Julian - whom she has with her ex-husband Robin Thicke - has inspired her to battle through her own ups and downs.

She told website Collider: "Everything is probably inside of you, truth be told, but you probably don't even know it ... That's the surprise of life. You don't know, until you find yourself in the situation. The older I get, the more I'm surprised with life. Things don't end up the way you think they will. Unbelievable and unimaginable things do happen, and then you figure out if you'll be able to step up to the plate or not."

She added: "There's no greater inspiration than that of your child."

The 'Warcraft' star and 'Blurred Lines' singer recently worked out their custody dispute, after getting divorced in 2015 following a decade of marriage.

And Paula says her top priority is her son's health and happiness, which she will go to "the ends of the earth" to protect.

She added in an interview with Collider: "Until you're actually in that situation, you don't know. At the end of the day, you know you're going to go to the ends of the earth for your child, period, no matter what. There's nothing that matters more. In my own life, there's no amount of success or money that's more important than your child being healthy and happy. There's nothing that can put a band-aid on that. There's nothing more valuable to me."

Under the terms of their new custody agreement, Robin - who recently revealed his girlfriend April Love Geary, 22, is pregnant - will have custody of his son Monday through to Wednesday, whilst Paula, 41, has him Wednesday through to Friday, with the former couple alternating who takes care of the little boy over the weekends and having him for a week at a time during holidays.