I feel like I've lived quite a sheltered life, lik...

I'd date someone younger or older age doesn't matter to me. Or looks, really - it's all about maturity.

I have my best ideas when I am alone.

If I can inspire people by showing that following a dream by working hard and being determined is possible, it's amazing.

My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don't be afraid to fail.

I was a mixture of being incredibly old for my age and incredibly backwards. I was born quite old, but then I stopped growing. I lived with my mum and dad till I was 30.

You get to a certain age and you can't judge yourself on your dad or your parents.

If you love somebody, you love them. My parents had a 25-year age gap between them and my mum was the breadwinner, my dad the house husband. I'm a strong believer that a good relationship can work, whatever the situation.

My inspiration was my mom. She's a great cook, and she still cooks, and we still banter back and forth about cooking. Growing up in a mostly Portuguese community, food was important and the family table was extremely important. At a very young age I understood that.

There are only two things a child will share willingly communicable diseases and its mother's age.

In Hollywood, you play a mom, and the next thing you know, you're on 'The Golden Girls.' They age you so fast.

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.