I want people to think about the connection between mothers and daughters. I like the idea of continuity of life and generations.

In the past I've always been the type of person to try and fit a square peg in a round hole. I can be very tenacious like that. But since I've had my daughter, I've found that I like the way life unfolds when I give the universe some space to guide me. It took me until my forties to realize that.

I was always attracted to characters that were in some level of turmoil or suffering because I had so much of that in my own life and I wanted to channel it. I was always into darker things.

Everything is in our cellular level. My mom's is definitely in my cellular memory.

I grew up around so many beautiful things. My mother's jewelry and purses - they're very much statement pieces. Again, that sort of over-the-top Russian thing where it looks like treasure. I always say to my husband, you don't ever have to get me another piece of jewelry. When your mother is this amazing woman, a North Star, sometimes you want a simpler presentation of yourself.

I thought my mom's whole purpose was to be my mom. That's how she made me feel.

Falling in love for the first time, and then the heartbreak of having it end, is difficult, but I don't think it would ever hurt as much as when my mother was killed in the boating accident. I feel a part of my heart has already been broken, and that place is reserved for mother.