My parents sent me from Venezuela to the Convent of Our Lady, a boarding school in Hastings, which was horrible - like Harry Potter without the magic. Sometimes we went into town, and if we were caught chewing gum in our uniform, members of the public would take down our names and report us to the school.

When I was young I would spend more money than I should with my credit card but my father cut it off, so I had to find creative ways of making money.

Investors are impatient and they are also desperate for the 'next big thing,' and they are not paying attention to the fact that the 'next big thing' can be an economic crisis that they have created by being very irresponsible with their power.

So I'm half deaf - and dyslexic. How about that? Nobody's perfect, and I'm proud of my defects.

Being a parent is a huge responsibility. Your child becomes the centre of your world.

If someone at VH1, the powers that be, said, 'Shaunie, we want you to completely do your family show,' would I do cartwheels on over to it? Absolutely, because that is probably the most fun I've ever had shooting anything ever so I would totally be fine with that and just do my EP but, yeah.

When you're around your family, and you have that history and that shared language, you say things you'd be embarrassed to hear quoted back to you later.

When I was a child, my father would read out loud to my brother, my mother, and me. Several times in the course of my childhood, he would read 'Alice and Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass' over a few weeks. They were a great favorite with all of us.