I don't think that there's been one example in history where somebody has openly talked about their personal life and it's done them any good.

I had a nickname in junior high, and I'm loathe to say this: 'potato lady.'

Ads featuring real women and real beauty are such a necessary component to offset the potentially dangerous programming out there for little girls.

In high school, I was on the youth advisory council for the Mayor's Office of Los Angeles, and that was kind of my first experience in the bureaucratic system. We tried to get things done, and nobody was really interested in getting anything done.

There's no better way to process pain than to write.

In my twenties I would be skeptical of a bad haircut, but once you turn thirty it's more about whether he a nice person and does he open the door for me. Once you turn thirty-five, it's more about would he make a good father. And even if you're just liking somebody and digging on someone, I think you can't help but think in those terms.

I'm lucky because I have so many clashing cultural, racial things going on: black, Jewish, Irish, Portuguese, Cherokee. I can float and be part of any community I want.