Courage is just fear, plus prayers, plus understanding.

Our scholastic system isn't structured to make sure that kids in the fifth or sixth grades absolutely know how to read.

I was getting bored and, I think, being a real pest. I remember Brando coming and sitting on the bed and cutting out the most exquisite paper fish, with detailed scales and fins. Then he took a hotel pen and a piece of string and made a fishing pole.

It was a very magical upbringing, the quality of feeling special, and people treated us special. You tried real hard to remember all the normal things so you didn't get twisted.

Work is secondary - for me, what's important is having a close-knit family and having someone you can call family.

I'd love to do some bedtime stories for kids or that kind of thing. But with the demands of the shooting schedule and balancing the demands of being a single mother, it's a wonder you can squeeze in anything.

I'm overjoyed and honored to become a member of the Hollywood Records family. I've admired the careers they've made and can't wait to see how my musical path is paved out.

In a way, I'm lucky that I was never classically trained and never went to a music college. I'm just from a normal working class family and happened to get obsessed with music as a teenager.