I've always preferred animals to little girls or boys. I had my first horse - actually it was a Newfoundland pony - when I was three, and I loved riding, without anyone shackling me - riding bareback as fast as I could.

I've come through things that would have felled an ox. That fills me with optimism, not just for myself but for our particular species.

You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal.

I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I'm not afraid to look behind them.

I have never felt more alive than when I watched my children delight in something, never more alive than when I have watched a great artist perform, and never richer than when I have scored a big check to fight AIDS.

I call upon you to draw from the depths of your being - to prove that we are a human race, to prove that our love outweighs our need to hate, that our compassion is more compelling than our need to blame.

Michael Jackson is part of my heart. We would do anything for each other.