If more men would see a story of what it was like to be pregnant, and how it felt to be in a place where you had to make a decision about whether to keep a pregnancy, maybe they would feel differently about women's health care.

Being a Southern person and a blonde, it's not a good combination. Immediately, when people meet you, they think of you as not being smart.

Costumes, fashion, it's all an expression of self, and the more you push the boundaries - the more that people work at creating alternative ideas - the more it changes people's ideas of beauty.

It's funny that it all becomes about clothes. It's bizarre. You work your butt off and then you win an award and it's all about your dress. You can't get away from it.

Growing up in the South, it was very patriarchal. When I applied to Stanford, I was told by a [male] college counselor, "You're never gonna get in, don't bother. They don't want you." I said, "I'm going to try." And I got in! But I wouldn't be the woman I am if I hadn't had that conflict to overcome. It has given me an underdog feeling all my life.

You hope you're saying the right things - but also, as a kid becomes a teenager, you feel like there's a ticking clock for you to tell them everything they need to know.

I have a good memory for certain things. And a very short memory for painful things - that's my favorite Martha Stewart quote, by the way.