I eat cheese and salami and a lot of fried chicken. I eat a big bag of oatmeal-raisin cookies every night and I don't gain weight. I still look OK as long as I'm dressed.

I have no problem being 53. Why would I want to be 35 again? I want to discover who I am in my 50s. And if I tried too hard to look younger, it would seem that I was uncomfortable with who I am, wouldn't it?

My husband thinks he's compromising if we have one cook instead of three.

I guess if you're lucky enough not to have to pay your rent, then you or I take much more seriously the kind of work that I do, what it takes for me to leave two teenagers of my own and six stepchildren and a husband and four grandchildren.

I am to a fault an introspective person. But I am not a reflective person - except for a big mistake, and then I really think about it.

I'm a little more extreme than a homebody. Unless there's some event I really have to go to, I don't like to leave my house.

The more powerful you become, some people especially don't like it that you're a woman. I stick up for myself.