I traveled all over the South looking for factories - to keep production in the South. I wanted to give back to the place and people that raised me.

There's something timeless and important about making people laugh, about being the right spot in their day.

I'm just trying to matter and live a good life and make work that means something to somebody.

I mean, really: He called me 33 percent lesbian, which was a gross underestimation of my lesbian-ness.

Everything I sang sounded awful. So I went outside and I screamed. Everyone pretty much agreed it was awful.

I always let my husband read the script so he knows what's about to happen to his wife. When I played Cheryl Strayed in Wild, I'd get really mad about certain things, I'd say really profound things, and I'd curse out of nowhere. He'd say, "Are you you, or are you Cheryl?"

I don't think these women are stupid. I think they're selling a personality that's very marketable: Wouldn't it be fun if we were all gorgeous and didn't have a care? But creating a cultural icon out of someone who goes, I'm stupid, isn't it cute? makes me want to throw daggers at them! I want to say to them, My grandma did not fight for what she fought for, and my mother did not fight for what she fought for, so you can start telling women it's fun to be stupid. Saying that to young women, little girls, my daughter? It's not OK.