Piper Perabo ‘Feels So Lucky’ Her Stepdaughter Lilli Welcomed Her (Exclusive)

Piper Perabo is thankful for her stepdaughter.

The Coyote Ugly actress, 48, spoke with PEOPLE about her new Prime Video series Butterfly, in which her character has a son. As she talks about the acting process, Perabo shares that she took some inspiration from her real-life experience of being a stepmom to her stepdaughter, Lilli Kay, who is also an actress.

“I mean, your real-life relationships are so much even more complicated and deep than the ones in the imaginary world,” Perabo tells PEOPLE. “I remember the first time I took Lilli to a public event, and there was just a lot of people there, and she hadn’t been on a lot of red carpets or [been around] that kind of big energy before.”

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“And I was just so protective of her,” she says. “I just wanted to make sure that she felt safe and felt okay. And it’s so funny, all these years later, she’s an actress herself and so she has to deal with that level of energy and she’s been doing so well with it. And I’m so proud of her.”

The proud stepmom went on to say that her stepdaughter was “very generous” in welcoming her to the family.

“It can be hard when your parents divorce and new people come in, and obviously it’s not always…it’s less than convenient for the kids,” Perabo explains. “All this upheaval and then new people and it can really feel unsafe and unstable and unfair and not cool. And Lilli has always been so generous and welcoming me into her life. I feel so lucky.”

Back in August, Perabo spoke with PEOPLE and opened up about watching her stepdaughter carve out her own path in Hollywood.

“We were both in Yellowstone and we only have one scene together, but Lilli is right now in Stick, which just got picked up for a second season,” Perabo said of her stepdaughter’s role in the Apple TV+ series.

“I’m so proud of her,” she continued. “She plays a gender nonconforming caddy and I think that show is so great. Owen Wilson is so amazing. It’s one of those summer shows that’s just a gem. I love it so much.”

As for if she’s ever given Lilli any advice, Perabo said she feels like she doesn’t need to since her stepdaughter has “studied a lot.”

“I don’t really need to give her advice,” she explained. “She’s really talented and studied a lot. Lilli is so good. But we read scripts to each other and we talk about work and we’re collaborators.”