I wasn't the biggest hip-hop fan, because I had to listen to whatever my parents listened to, so growing up, it was a lot of Dolly Parton, Elvis, and Whitney Houston. When they finally put a TV in my room and I got to listen to MTV Jams I was like: 'Here I am!'

Words do cut, and they do hurt. It was one thing growing up where you were bullied, but you'd just come home. Now you can't really escape it. It's to a point where you turn off that phone, you live your life, and you try not to let the words of others offend or stop you from being you and living your life.

Growing up was very interesting for me. If you were Haitian, people just automatically assumed that English was a second language. So they had a special class for my brother and I, but we spoke proper English.

Growing up in America, even in the rougher parts of Elizabeth, I had two nice playgrounds to choose from as a child.

There are such wonderful blessings in my life - I have this amazing baby, an amazing family, and I loved X Factor - all these moments of joy, and then these sharp drop-offs. I'd be awake, lying in bed, crying. There's these weird moments of misplaced anger I have.

I was five when I did my first show with the Mountain Play Theatre company in Marin County. I started young, and since no one in my family was involved in the industry in any way shape or form, I think everyone thought I'd do a few plays and that would be it. But then I kept doing it.

Iraq... has also had contacts with al-Qaida. Their ties may be limited by divergent ideologies, but the two sides' mutual antipathy toward the United States and the Saudi royal family suggests that tactical cooperation between them is possible.

I don't have a ton of experience, because I date with the intent to marry... It's how I want a family and how I would want someone to treat my daughter.