I don't like having my picture taken and I don't like looking at myself because I don't particularly like what I see.

I think part of it has got to be compensation, yes, for the fact that when I was a kid, I wasn't particularly attractive. But at the same time I don't remember ever thinking, Oh, my God, I'm such a mess; I'm the ugliest sod in the class.

The main downside was that it [fame] happened so quickly and I didn't have time to establish what kind of person I wanted to be.

I had a very important personal point to make with this song [I Want Your Sex]. I just hated the idea that lust and forbidden excitement could only come with sleaze and strangers.

At a certain age I just stopped arguing. I realized that there was no way [my father] could see, because for him to approve of what I was doing, he would have to have some belief in me as a musician.

I'd never touch anything. I think it's foolhardy to play around with the face that you've been given. To have a little snip or a tuck, I think, is really quite obscene.

This was absolutely an attack on [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair, principally, and the perspective which is really predominant in Europe right now that he's not questioning enough of Mr. Bush's policies.