I'd always ask my grandma, who was so, so smart, why she didn't work, and she would explain that her parents didn't approve of her working after she had children. She didn't feel like she had choices.

Well I always wanted to be Dolly Parton when I was a little girl. I was obsessed with her.

The truth is... I gave my heart away a long time ago, my whole heart... and I never really got it back.

I think women are natural caretakers. They take care of everybody. They take care of their husbands and their kids and their dogs, and don't spend a lot of time just getting back and taking time out.

But like Elle Woods, I do not like to be underestimated.

I have achieved a certain amount of success, and I felt a responsibility to my daughter and to women in this world to create more opportunities for women.

I have a history, a long history of being stereotyped as a five-foot-two woman, which is very limiting. I've worked so hard to create characters that have dignity. And I think everybody knows that I have a very pro-woman message in my work - and in my life.