I feel like, when we're kids, you're sold into this fairy tale of what love is. That Prince Charming's gonna come along and save you and you're gonna live happily ever after. They're gonna rescue me from the Bronx, and we're gonna go off and live in a castle somewhere and it's gonna be awesome. He's gonna love me forever, and I'm gonna love him forever, and it's gonna be real easy. And it's so different than that.

Sometimes you have to explore the darkness to get to the light and get back to who you are.

I'm also influenced by all the places I've traveled since then: I've been to Hollywood and great fashion shows and seen the world. I have a different perspective, and I mix that up.

I swear to God, I don't remember anything Gwyneth Paltrow was in. Some people get hot by association. I heard more about her and Brad Pitt and I ever heard about her work.

All of a sudden one day I was like, I'm good at this! Oh, man! People are not giving me jobs because they feel sorry for me! I am an actress. I am a singer. I am a performer. That's what I do! Once I started giving myself a little credit, the whole world opened up.

A romantic comedy has to be funny and make you think about life; but the obstacle that has to be overcome is key.

Everything I wanted before, I want twice as much now. And that doesn't mean material things; it means to explore more, to think more. Being an artist doesn't start because you're 21, and it doesn't end because you're 51. You are who you are until the day you die.