Nobody just said, 'Here, be a star!' I've joked many times that I was a seven-year overnight success.

I was the singing voice of a cartoon character. I did dog food commercials. I did a lot of commercials, actually, and helped pay my rent and my classes. Then I'd get one good line or two good scenes. I was building my career and building my own experience and learning technically what it was like to be on a set and all of those things.

You think you're in control, and you're trying to get that square peg in that round hole. You're frustrated, and you realize that you're not in control of everything. You need to just step back and let God.

I only had one focus and one direction, and I knew where my spirit and heart lived, and it was in singing and dancing and acting, being that. I know a lot of young people dream that, but it's good that it worked out for me because it was all I ever wanted to do.

I arrived in this country as a refugee child with my sister and my mother.

I probably spend more time with my kids than the average stay-at-home mother.

My father was a lorry driver, very rarely at home. The house was run by my mother, and because there were 10 or so kids, there was no time for individual attention. It was about survival. It was about where the next meal was coming from.

Tweeting is a very personal form of expression. Who else could talk about my son refusing to wear a suit to meet the Pope, my husband flying a helicopter, or take a twitpic from our home?