I've never been all that interested or aware of what people are thinking about me or saying about me. I think that has kept me safest and sanest.

The second you are handed a newborn it is yours. It doesn’t matter what body it came out of. I’ve never felt more strongly about anything in my life.

Obviously, it wasn't meant for me to die of cancer at 40. Every day my life surprises me, just like my cancer diagnosis surprised me. But you roll with it. That's our job as humans.

With everything that you do, once the costume is on, and you're in the pretend hospital, and you're there with your co-workers, it all sort of snaps into place: Who you are, what it feels like, who these people are to you.

My kids have never seen me scream at anybody. They've never seen an argument. There's never been even a cold silence. And those are things that I grew up with because my parents did end up divorcing.

It's a very complicated issue, this fame thing - I was not really cut out for it. There are some really fantastic things about it, but it's difficult for a private person like myself.

I was able to support myself by acting alone about six years ago. Until then, I was just scraping by.