Zoe Kravitz is guarded because people ''always'' wanted things from her parents.

The 28-year-old actress has described herself as a ''tiny gatekeeper'' and has admitted she ''built a lot of walls'' when she was growing up because she could tell people only wanted to talk to her because of her famous parents Lisa Bonnet and Lenny Kravitz.

Speaking to Vogue magazine, the 'Big Little Lies' star said: ''Seeing people always wanting something from my parents, or from us - as a small person I built a lot of walls. I was the tiny gatekeeper.''

And the style icon has revealed she was forced to develop this personality because she wanted to ''protect'' her parents, especially the 'American Woman' hitmaker because he would always ''Let people in'' and is a very open person.

She continued: ''That probably came from trying to protect my parents, especially my dad who's so nice to everyone. He lets people in. But I have a fiery side. I can be confrontational.''

But Zoe loves how youngsters nowadays are ''so awake, so empathetic, so sensitive''.

She explained: ''I love how the younger generation are so awake, so empathetic, so sensitive, but still I'm a little removed from them, so I can make jokes like, oh no, I just called someone 'a man' without first checking that they identified as a man.''