I come from a line of great Sicilian women, and their mentality is to endure and push through to the other side.

You can't make your kids what you want them to be. They are who they are and you have to help them to succeed in the world as best you can.

I'm not gonna worry about what people think about me. I'm too busy. I don't give a hoot.

Dick Clark was a really great influence in my career; he helped me a lot with his whole organization, and they were awesome to me at all different points - but one thing that I really disagreed with him on was when he said that what I do, pop music, is a disposable art form.

I always sang. I wanted to be in a band with my sister, and I was, at 11. At 12, I started writing seriously, and that was my pacifier all through high school - that and painting.

I can't judge the way other people behave. I can only look at myself.

I'm in the business where you get the business all the time.