You can only avoid responsibility for so long. The catalyst ended up being the law coming down and finally saying, 'You guys suspended judgement and that's fine, because we're not.

It's like our relationship is always about the other side that isn't the obvious side.

I'm a New Yorker, so there are some aspects of being a tough woman that I thought I could bring to the role - but it's such a different world as a woman who's like a warrior.

I grew up a squatter on the Lower East Side, so it's kind of a given that I'd have very strong opinions on everything from cyclical violence to teenage pregnancy to environmental justice.

I don't know my biological father. That could have had a huge impact on my life had it not been for the fact that my dad married my mom when I was one and raised me as his own.

When you look at the gladiator times or at any of the things in human history, people are and have always been attracted to violence to the point where they're in stadiums still to this day watching people getting stoned to death.

From Marilyn Monroe and beyond, that's a huge part of Hollywood, creating a persona that's mysterious and fairly simple, though it's interesting how that's changing: Now, you have fans who are like, "Um, yeah, I just emailed with Barack Obama and tweeted with Lady Gaga, so I'm kinda right there with you; give it to me."