South Africa is a whole other world. I went to grade school there and high school in Johannesburg, and before that, my family lived in Kenya in Nairobi where my brother was actually born, and my sister was born in Capetown. I spent the first 10 years of my life in South Africa.
People like Howlin' Wolf, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, Captain Beefheart - all of these artists were what I grew up listening to every day of my life. And there's a very healthy music scene in the west country of England, where I grew up.
You can be committed to somebody because of ego: 'I said I was going to be with this joker for the rest of my life, so I'm just going to do it.' Or you can be committed because you have a deeply rooted connection.
But enough joking. I am singing. This is all my life.
All of my life I have asked the question, 'Who would I be if I had grown up in a loving home?' And I have no way to answer it. I don't know if I would be placid and satisfied with whatever is around me - a happy, jolly, sedentary person.
I've chosen to stay in a jolly place for most of my life, and that is a lot of who I am.
One of the biggest obstacles I've overcome in my life was thinking I didn't deserve to be successful. Artistically I'm not as much of a heavyweight as someone like Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell, because I'm not a creator of original music, and I worried about that for years.
From time to time, I'll look back through the personal journals I've scribbled in throughout my life, the keepers of my raw thoughts and emotions. The words poured forth after my dad died, when I went through a divorce, and after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. There are so many what-ifs scribbled on those pages.
I think St. Jude helped me achieve some miracles in my life - that's why I wear the medallion in my left ear and never take it out.
I'm really judgmental, especially about things that I feel make my life harder.
Like most working moms, my life is a constant juggling act.
I auditioned in Chicago for Juilliard and didn't get in. I was basically living in a back room of my parents' house, paying rent and not doing anything with my life. I'd like to say it was patriotic to join the Marines, but it was also that I was doing nothing honorable with my life and spending too much time at McDonald's.
Playing Juliet in 'Heavenly Creatures' changed my life, and the role of Clementine in' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' opened many new doors creatively.
I live my life as an entrepreneur in every possible way I can by applying the question 'What can be done better and how?' at every juncture.
I actually got hurt in a steel factory in 1985 and so that changed my life. I went to a junior college and that's where I discovered acting.
I think people in Montreal smoke a lot, and I used to smoke when I was 17-18, and just picked it up when I was playing juniors. But I think I stopped when I was 22, which was a big decision in my life.
My life is so much better with lupus because I know that stress and too much junk food will literally put me in hospital.
Just kidding, I've been very athletic all my life.
I think I take my job seriously, but I enjoy my life and I enjoy my friends, and I never really allowed myself to do that before. So I just kind of want to party with everyone.
I'm not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I'm just living my life.
