I go to Florida sometimes for vacation. I actually really like Florida. It's a weird place, it's surreal. It's so close, but you feel like you're in another world or on an island.

When you're literally carrying a child you can cut back on bad habits.

I've never been one to just do what I'm told. I don't say that necessarily with pride, it's just something that has gotten me in trouble before.

That's what I paint, I paint people. They're portraits, but you won't always be pleased with the way you look in my paintings. Which is fine, I guess. Unless you're buying it, and it's of your kid!

That's a paradox I've noticed, too: The news business held little romance for me, yet writing about it somehow stirred my affections.

The Dog Whisperer' to me is a show that had a passion, and it helped me save relationships.

I really love rap music. I grew up in the '80s and '90s with Public Enemy, N.W.A., LL Cool J - I'm a hip-hop encyclopedia. But I got kind of frustrated with the chauvinistic side of rap music, the one that makes it hard to write songs about love and relationships.

Which is, I'm an optimist that two people can be together to work out their conflicts. And that commitment, I think, might be what love is, because they both grow from their relationship.