...I would be a liar and my fans would hate me if I said to them, 'Oh, we're perfect and everything is great.' We have situations just like everyone else. We're not out in public trying to kill each other, but it's real. We love each other.

Once you climb to another level, you have to figure out how to sustain it.

Don't go a full day or night without washing your face. You have to get all the dirt and makeup out of your pores.

I used to think I was ugly. I thought I looked like a camel. A person who doesn't love themselves, they will see anything that pops up on their face. I've seen squirrels, I've seen a bird, and I've seen all kinds of animals on my face. But that is the result of self-hate. I've learned to say: 'You know what? I am a beautiful black woman'.

If you're looking for inner peace from the outside world, you're not going to get that. The inner peace starts with looking at you from the inside. Understanding that everything that comes to you is what you are. Everything from friends to boyfriends to the job you get - it's all a direct reflection of what you are on the inside.

We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.

God comes first - if I don't love him, I can't love anybody, and if I can't love me I can't love nobody.