I didn't have a clue. I grew up Protestant in Connecticut at the Saugatuck Congregational Church. We didn't talk about the devil. That's Catholicism. And so, that was my safety net. And I always say, it's probably a good thing they didn't hire a Catholic child, who may have heard about the devil, the things that were in the closet. And no one wanted to discuss them.

I have been a vegetarian for about 10 years. And it really was due to the reading that I did. And they explain so that you understand why it's important for the planet's survival along with compassion for animals. It certainly made it much easier for me. I lost weight really fast. My mother died from cancer so this is all very personal to me. And I just would like the planet to be a better place. And I think you'll find a vegetarian diet to be really incredible these days

People need to understand; I may have been very innocent. Didn't understand the devil. Didn't understand any of that. You can only push a child so far. You have laws; number one. And number two; I had been doing this so long, I could say now that I don't want to do something. But after a certain while, they knew when they had pushed their luck with me, and that it was time to, you know, maybe back off.

We didn't talk about devil on the set. My mother and I didn't talk about it. Billy Friedkin and I didn't talk about it. It was a closet subject. But it was the best thing that happened because I had no idea what I was going.

For me reading the book [The Exorcist], I had the same questions that everyone else had. How does she jump up and down off the bed? How does her head spin around? How does she throw up?

I was lucky. I had some really good people that were just here there and wherever who would come into my life that I felt would answer questions. I mean, I had some very powerful questions myself for what this earth was all about.

I've had people appear in my life that have helped me. I had more fun. I approached it thinking how would Jack Nicholson, "How would he do it?" So that's really what I did was I created this Gremlin character. So now people come up and they say 'Oh The Exorcist!'.. and I'm like "Did you see Repossessed?" They say either no or yes or whatever, and I say look at this, have a laugh, and then go back and look at a masterpiece.