People have a responsibility, especially with today's media, to read between the lines.

It's the media that take an isolated incident and make it a deciding factor in a presidential campaign, as opposed to the real issues, like abortion, the homeless, the deficit. The same is true with actors and their lifestyles.

The fact is, I have a great home and I like to have people come up. I meet enough people just doing my grocery shopping; I don't need to go out and meet any more people.

Actually, if I had to do it over [leaving the show the West Wing], I'd do the same thing, because lost in the shuffle of it is that Aaron [Sorkin] left the same year I did. And I would not have wanted to be on The West Wing with somebody else writing it.

Directors are not worried about casting beautiful women, but they are not sure that they want to cast great-looking men. My looks have prevented people from seeing my work objectively.

Francis [Ford Coppola] was on the cover of Time Magazine for One From The Heart and for owning a studio, and he was fresh off of Apocalypse [Now] and The Godfather films, so he was at the absolute top of his game and legend [in The Outsiders ].

I happen to be a movie star, but I'm not saying, "Hey, I'm a role model. Imitate me."