I have always been very rebellious and gone against the grain. I've always challenged the standards set before me.

Reading keeps me sane. Growing up, it was my scape, my alternative; it provided both rebellion and peace.

It's my job in Hollywood to find roles where I get to be a character not a bathing suit.

[The Rum Diary] is a prestigious movie and it's got a great, talented cast, so they wanted to make sure they had the right person for the role, but it was a torturous process. It was painful.

We come from a somewhat puritanical and chauvinistic point-of-view, so that when we're asked questions about women being empowered by sexuality, we often confuse it with women who are victimized by it.

I can't be a part of the problem. I hate the idea of a label just as much as anyone else but I'm with who I'm with, I love who I love and I'm if not a better actress than I was yesterday and my personal life should have no effect on that. I think that the injustice of people staying in the closet is more than I can bear with a clear conscience and I couldn't sleep at night if I was a part of that problem, if I was part of the lies.

I was interested in [Hunter S. Thompson novels]. The rebel in me fell in love with it, and the artist in me was confused by it, and interested and turned on. Ever since, his work has meant different things to me, at different times, and I still get new meaning out of it and appreciate it, in a different way. His work is very visceral, and you can take from it what you want, in various moments of your life.