The Will and Grace star recently relocated from California to the Big Apple to shoot her new U.S. TV show Smash, but she had no idea how competitive grammer school enrolment in the city could be.

She says, ""I had to get my son into a school in Manhattan. That's nearly impossible. It was probably the most stressful thing I have ever gone through in my entire life.""

Messing even tried to use her Hollywood connections to help with the entrance process for seven-year-old Roman - but to no avail.

She adds, ""I was desperate. After a while, I was like, 'OK, well, who's name can I use?' So I said, 'Would it help if I said Steven Spielberg is my boss?' Because he is, he's my boss on Smash. And they said, 'No.' Can you believe that? It's insanity.""

However, the actress insists things turned out for the best and Roman got accepted on his own merit: ""Luckily my son is genius... and he got into a lovely school and he's happy.""