When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice.

I know that after my letter there will be undoubtedly an 'opinion' about me, but I am not afraid of it. I openly say what I think. Talent, of which we are proud, must not be submitted to the assaults of the past.

I came to Moscow when I was 5 years old from Baku. To walk all night in Moscow will bring back my youth to me.

Now I want to use money in a good way. I make foundations back home in Russia, I have sponsored vaccinations for more than one million children in my homeland and I have founded scholarships in the names of my great Russian compatriots - Oistrakh, Richter, Gilels, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Schnittke.

I am a normal girl from a humble, middle class family.

John F. Kennedy brought style and charisma to the White House and a first family that captivated the country: a handsome, witty president, an elegant first lady, and two adorable young children.

Whenever you have an animal and bring another one into the house, it's a very traumatic event. It's a story as old as bringing home a second child from the hospital, when the first child kind of goes, 'Hey, aren't I enough?'

Like a lot of kids, I had a Superman cake or different theme cakes, but then I hit the age where I think my mom thought I was ready for the German chocolate cake that she makes for my dad. Just the sight of that, the taste of that frosting, just reminds me of being at home with my mom and my dad and my sister and my friends.