I know who I am. I am not perfect. I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world. But I'm one of them.

Yonkers made me strong and made me believe in myself, because so many people would doubt you and not believe. There are people that would believe in you, but the environment was so harsh, nobody wanted you to get out, you know?

I blame my mother for nothing, but forgive her for everything.

As far as men go, they never gave me a chance to be me; they were always scared that somebody was going to take me.

I don't know what kind of God the rest of y'all are serving, but the God I serve says, 'Mary, you need to be the hottest thing this year, and I'm gonna make sure you're doing that.'

I remember a time when all my fans were crying and sad and going through hell. Now, we're trying to uplift each other and accept ourselves for who we are, even if nobody else does.

As a kid, I dreamed about being onstage.