Jemima Kirke thanks her nanny on Mother's Day and admits what she 'can't stand' about motherhood

Rafella Israel Mosberg, Memphis Kirke Mosberg, and mum Jemima Kirke. Photo / Getty Images

While plenty of celebrities have taken to sharing photos with their kids in honour of Mother's Day in the US today, one star is being praised for bucking the trend.

Girls star and mum-of-two Jemima Kirke publicly thanked her children's nanny for her hard work, and made a frank confession to which many parents can surely relate.

She "can't stand" playtime.

"And happy Mother's Day to @sweetsbystacy82 I can't stand playing with children so you've saved them and me a whole lot of boredom," Kirke shared beneath a series of photos and videos of her 9-year-old daughter Rafella Israel Mosberg and 7-year-old son Memphis Kirke Mosberg playing with her nanny, Stacy.

"Thank you for making me a better mother and for being nothing short of another mom to my children," she added.

View this post on Instagram

And happy Mother’s Day to @sweetsbystacy82 I cant stand playing with children so you’ve saved them and me a whole lot of boredom. thank you for making me a better mother and for being nothing short of another mom to my children.

A post shared by Jemima Kirke (@jemima_jo_kirke) on May 10, 2020 at 7:19am PDT

Kirke shares Rafella and Memphis with her ex husband, lawyer Michael Mosberg.

The actress and artist is now dating Australian musician Alex Cameron.

Over on Twitter, fans admired the star's honesty, adding that it was refreshing to see a high-profile mother acknowledging their caregiver.

Happy Mother’s Day to Jemima Kirke, literally the FIRST celebrity/ high profile careerperson parent I have ever seen to publicly acknowledge their nanny and thank them. I have a new level of respect for this person. (And I hope that nanny is getting P A I D) pic.twitter.com/CW9TGQuoB9

— Kelli María Korducki (@kelkord) May 10, 2020

"Props to her for honesty. I too hate playing and unfortunately for my kids, they can tell!," one said.

Another agreed: "I do not like playing with my kids! I like talking with my kids, reading with my kids, eating with my kids, napping with my kids. Unfortunately I do not have a nanny to do that for me ha ha."

But not everyone was a fan of her candour.

"She can't stand playing with her children, what a thing to say!," one follower posted.

Another wrote: "This makes me feel so icky. I can't imagine refusing to partake in something so important to my child. I hope it's not completely serious."

"Yeesh that's gonna be tough for a kid to read someday," one more offered.

Others were quick to point out other Hollywood women who had honoured their nannies in the past, including Busy Phillips, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Kelly Clarkson, news.com.au reports.

"Poehler and Fey had their nannies in an SNL skit once. But verrrrry rare," one said.

34-year-old Kirke split from her husband of seven years in 2017, blaming her acting career for the breakdown of her marriage.

Happy Mama’s Day to the greatest nanny/extra mom/sister wife to @AllieKearns my kids can be sweet and loving but they can also be nuts so thank you for loving them all the time, regardless 🤣🤗❤️ pic.twitter.com/Lp3OmDtrAO

— Kelly Clarkson (@kellyclarkson) May 10, 2020

Kirke told ES magazine that she started to analyse things differently after her high school friend Lena Dunham cast her as Jessa Johansson in Girls.

"I got divorced, and I attribute that to acting. And just asking myself, 'Is this really me?' So much of my life has been about reaction, just following the flow rather than making a strong choice," she said.

"In acting you are always asking yourself why you do things, why you make the choices you make. Everything means something. And so then you start looking at your own life in that way. I've learnt a lot more about myself and started to figure out what I really want," she said.