I'd been a housewife and mother to our son Thomas Jefferson, and I was looking for a new career. So when my agent called and said a producer named Paul Elliott from E&B productions, the biggest panto company in the country at the time, wanted to meet me I agreed.

I've been doing Pilates since 1974, I lift weights, I power walk every day and I run backwards. That's sometimes a little hard when you're not on your home turf, because you've got to find a place where there are no bumps in the way - or people.

I believe you need scientific proof that something works before you entrust your health to it.

Back then I was called Dumbo because of my ears. I was called Fatty, too. It was hurtful so I became like the class clown. I became the one who was kicked around.

I held my father's hand while he died of cancer, and it's really painful when you do something like that up close and personal. My mother was already gone, and I was very, very close to my father.

I don't believe in looking like a mannequin. I like my bulges and love handles, but fitness is important for me.

I think all Americans believe in human rights. And health is an often overlooked aspect of basic human rights. And it's one that's easily corrected. The reason I say that is that many of the diseases that we treat around the world, I knew when I was a child. My mother was a registered nurse. And they no longer exist in our country.

I really believe that beauty comes from health - sensible eating and exercise.