I always write back to people who are kind enough to write to me. Actually, I don't write - I recline on my red velvet sofa with my feet on the coffee table and dictate the letters to my eldest son.

I always wanted to be Jo in 'Little Women.' She's a bit reckless and feckless, always getting into trouble like me. But I'm probably more like Madame Bovary.

I'm spectacularly disorganised. I wrote my latest book in seven different notebooks scattered throughout my house.

In the playground, I always made people laugh; I used to charge them three pence for an impression of a teacher. It kept me in toffees.

There's no handbook for parenting. So you walk a very fine line as a parent because you are civilizing these raw things. They will tip the coffee over and finger-paint on the table. At some point, you have to say, 'We're gonna have to clean that up because you don't paint with coffee on a table.'

Whether I'm running, working, relating, parenting, learning - whatever I'm doing, I want to surround myself with people who push me.

I don't think I will ever cross-contaminate my private life and my family life with my public and professional worlds.

I'm not superstitious. But my mother doesn't allow me to cut my nails after dark. Earlier, I used to wear a scapular from Potta around my neck, given to me by a family member. But during my shoots, it's not possible, so I tie it on my right wrist for protection.