In this business, if you take too long, the landscape changes. So the opportunities that were there when I decided to take a break weren't there when I came back. It's like, 'Wait a second - what happened here?' It was a real learning experience. I've paid my dues, I will tell you that.

The only time it got really crazy was during 'Batman.' Anywhere I went in the world, people knew who I was. I was being offered these huge films that would have taken my career to a different level, and I decided to put on the brakes. I knew if I continued on that track, I probably wouldn't have gotten married.

There are obviously peaks and valleys in everyone's career. This business can be a roller-coaster ride, and it's really hard to stay on top all the time. Very few people do.

I'm definitely the most tech-savvy in my family. My wife wouldn't have a clue, as far as getting the computer working. All of my kids, it's amazing. Like everybody's kids, they're more savvy than I am, probably.

You do become very close like a family but because you see each other for such an intense period of time on the set everyday. You really don't end up socializing that much.

When I finally gave up any hope of doing anything representative of the American family, I actually seemed to have tapped into other people's weirdness in that way.

Of course Black Lives Matter and the killing of young black boys is heartbreaking to all of us. Everyone knows I am a black mother of a black son, so there is no way I could watch what's happening and not be affected.

In the 19th century, a lot of people were against outlawing child labour, because to do so would be against the very foundations of a free market economy: 'These children want to work, these people want to employ them... what is your problem? It's not as if anyone has kidnapped them...'