I'm really interested in modern history, but to fulfill a History degree at Brown you have to do modern and pre-modern.

Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one?

Men don't have the benefits of equality either.

I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. I'm going to figure out what that is.

As a child, I loved being onstage. I loved singing, I loved the lights, I loved the adrenaline. I even loved learning lines. I was completely obsessive.

I guess what really forms you as a person is what you do within your family to receive love or attention. In my family, what you had to do to receive attention was to have good conversation at the dinner table or for me to do well at school, and those were really my focuses because that was what was valued the most.

As a younger woman, that pressure got me down, but I've made my peace with it. With airbrushing and digital manipulation, fashion can project an unobtainable image that's dangerously unhealthy. I'm excited about the ageing process. I'm more interested in women who aren't perfect. They're more compelling.