There's a big difference between being privileged and being spoilt. My parents always said, 'Spoilt means ruined, and you're not ruined, just incredibly fortunate.'
When you're the youngest and the only boy, you get spoilt but you get told you're spoilt so you don't get to enjoy it very much. I was the only man in the house because my parents divorced and my dad moved away when I was 13.
My parents raised me on Spooky Tooth and The Band, Derek and the Dominoes, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, all that stuff. Rock n' roll was just in my subconscious.
I hang out with people who are amazing parents and really value a rich living. I'm not talking about monetarily. I'm talking spiritually and mentally, and we help make sure that each one is on their game for their spouses.
My parents are from north London, and so it's not like I'm some Yank who wants to make a profit out of football. I don't care about making money. I just want to see Spurs succeed and, if I can help, that's great.
I am a wild orchid of comedy, so I can only do well under specific conditions... There are people who I think can do any room, and do stadiums and thousand-seat theaters, and then there are people like me who just perform for my parents.
My parents scrimped and saved all their lives, to the point where my mother used a disgusting old oven mitt that was stained and partly patched together with a skirt I made in seventh grade.
For my seventh birthday, my parents gave me a plain, unfinished wooden dollhouse. It had six empty rooms, two floors, a staircase, and a door that swung out onto a little front stoop. The windows opened, and the roof retracted on one side, revealing an attic.
Merit pay has failed repeatedly, and it's no surprise. When you base teacher pay on standardized test scores, you won't improve education; you just promote the high-stakes testing craze that's led parents, students and educators to shout 'Enough!' all across the country.
When I take my kid to school, all the parents stop and stare.
My parents have ensured that we never develop starry airs.
I haven't had a stationary home since going with the circus, but since my parents lived in Lafayette about 25 years ago and my sister lives here now, I always claim it as home.
Both my parents are Catholic and staunch believers. I'm not a Catholic now, but I still carry part of it with me.
I grew up with the media circus. My whole life. My parents were very calm about the photographers, the fans, and all that. But I understood right away that I hadn't done anything to deserve that attention. No matter what happens, it will be there. I didn't choose it. You just can't take that too seriously. You need to live your life. And stay calm.
My parents were very calm about the photographers, the fans, and all that. But I understood right away that I hadn't done anything to deserve that attention. No matter what happens, it will be there. I didn't choose it. You just can't take that too seriously. You need to live your life. And stay calm.
My dad is a civil engineer, and my mom is a stay-at-home mom. The fact that my parents weren't really involved in music was kind of good, because it meant that I had something that was private and personal.
I've known what it's like to survive without a steady job. Growing up in the Philippines, I watched my parents juggle part-time jobs at the corner shop and as tailors, barely able to make ends meet for my three brothers and me.
I don't recall my parents ever steering me toward or away from science. It was more that I was steered toward learning and excellence in the classroom.
The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.
My parents brought us up in a very clever way, which was that they saw what we were interested in naturally, and then they encouraged whatever that may be. When I started sharing a keen interest in drama and the theater, instead of steering me away from it, they encouraged me to see plays and think about drama school.
