I'm not saying you need to become a spokesperson for every cause your character goes through, but it's important to absolutely do the best job we can in portraying a disease, and all the crap that goes with it.

Most women do not realize that heart disease is the #1 killer of American women.

Size 8 is great! That is my new motto. I was a 14 and 6 and 12. I think it's healthy. I like to eat, drink and be merry!

The women I know who have gone through breast cancer still laugh a lot. They're not crying all day.

I'm taking better care of myself by eating healthy, exercising and doing my best to keep my stress level down as well as role modeling good habits for my kids.

For me to get the support and the love and response we did from critics, but to also be at Trader Joe's and have women come up to me and cry and hug me is on another level. That makes you take a step back because there are genuine emotions at stake. People were truly on a journey with her. This story opened up week by week like a flower. It was just a magical season, and I'm so happy I got to do it.

There's an inherent responsibility actors feel when portraying something that actually exists in the world. It's arguably something that not all actors would agree on because this is a craft, but for me, it's the emotion of what a character is going through that makes the performance what it is. We have a responsibility to bring those emotions to light.