That to be an activist, you have to stay active. For me, it's profound; it's not something you choose to do every five years because it's chic to say it.

People might want to think, "We don't need it," but you know, we can't stop it. It's a movement, which means that it's moving, whether you like it or not, it's going to move.

As a young girl, I was much more preoccupied by my flaws. Everyone teased me because of my long, skinny neck. To hide my so-called deformity, I was wearing a turtleneck when I was 3! Yet my neck is probably my best asset. At the end of the day, what counts is the entire package.

I'm quite insufferable about fitness, I suppose. I think it's really important, though I'm not a body nut.

The one thing my mother instilled in me, well both my parents but specifically my mother - I come from a Muslim country where boys were more wanted than girls so she always made me feel that there is nothing that I couldn't do as well as the boys if not better.

When 9/11 happened, 12 of our neighborhood firemen were killed. I looked around at the country that had adopted me and I became an American.

My father taught me how to be a parent and gave me a positive connection with men because he is a gentleman.