Just because you dress sexy doesn't mean you're a bad girl; it just means you know how to dress.

I thought she'd [her mother] offer me some sympathy. Instead, she said, 'Don't you ever call me crying again! You wanted to be in this business, so you better toughen up!' And I did.

I felt about life and the way I felt about my children was so deep and profound. It was the first time I'd felt anything like that. I knew as an artist that it was going to make a huge difference in everything that I did.

I had such a reputation, and it was sad because I felt like it so didn't represent who I really was.

Everybody has seen that I make mistakes. Every single album I have ever made is about love. But I am not going to give up. I have to look at what I do wrong. I rush in, I get swept up, I ignore the signs. But so many of us are guilty of these things. Each time it goes wrong, it's hard. I get really hurt but I have to let myself go: 'What did I do? What can I learn?' And as hard and as hurtful as things get, I want to believe I will be able to go one step higher. I've got to hope that if I keep going I will eventually get it right.

I wasn't the most popular girl in class, I had my friends, but I was comfortable with myself. There's always those most popular girls and I wasn't one of those.

And I deal with all that by being like a perfectionist. But that's okay.