I mean, I know my heart is not clean, and your heart is not clean, and none of our urban hearts are clean. But you can be washed again.

I don't think I'll do foster care or adopt, to be quite honest.

I think everyone should understand history of segregation the same way we had to go to school and read about George Washington. I believe this generation should know their history and they should know that the struggle's not over yet. For instance, you can't get the cover of a magazine if your skin is too dark.

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.

There are people out there who want to provoke me and bring back the old Mary but I'm not giving them the satisfaction.

As a kid, I was in love with Michael Jackson, and I just knew I was going to marry him someday.

'My Life' is not an autobiography. It's just music.