Whenever people ask me how I manage to get through this whole crazy time of being incredibly famous and sort of an icon and supposedly a role model and all of this insanity, I always cite my family and then books. I don't know what I would have done without books.

I didn't have parents who were, you know, racing to get a reality television show, you know? Or looking to benefit in some way from their daughter's fame.

Getting the pretty back is about getting back in touch with your essential self: the part of you that knows what you really want.

I never felt terribly comfortable in the public eye.

When I was a little kid I thought I would grow up to be black and sing jazz in nightclubs.

Sometimes when people have kids young, they're not ready.

It's the universal feeling that we all are alone - that we're all different. I think the movie's one resounding theme is that everybody feels the same, and we're all alone together. Some people come up to me on the street and thank me for helping them get through their teen years.