It's been real weird. It wasn't how I expected my life to turn out. Especially, mainly pertaining to the show. It never crossed my mind that one day I'm gonna be big and famous and have my own TV show, you know?

Fame doesn't affect my relationships with people much because I've got my head on straight, but there is some sort of undertone that has a weird effect when you're trying to walk through life – I'm not interested in seeing "the media" manifest itself in my life. I don't even like to call acting a career. I prefer to think of it as a project, or else I'd start worrying about things like money. I like contributing to causes, people and the world around me. Just kind of sharing it all, that's what's important.

I’ve been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years, so there is nobody I want to date in the industry, except such persons have not come into the industry yet. I know everybody and there is nobody I’m interested in dating. That is the truth.

I started in 2006, then stopped and didn’t do anything in entertainment again till 2009 as I had doubts....

You must agree with me that most broken relationships or marriages start from the pages of newspapers. That is why I hardly grant interviews. I am doing this just because of the event we are attending, the personality of the person we are here to honour and the environment we are. I dread the media so much for fear of being misquoted or misinterpreted. More so, I am a very shy and private person

I was awesome. It was difficult at first; I like being truthful. At the initial stage, it was difficult because even though it was still from the entertainment industry, we were coming from two backgrounds as it were, the music and the acting. They are used to things being snappy

Showbiz is a job. I never take it too seriously. I work hard, but I never pretend it’s life or death. I’m just incredibly lucky.

I had very little in common with and knew even less about a generation that I was supposed to be the voice of.

I have always considered my life a private affair and the business of no one beyond my family and those I love. Except for moral and political issues that aroused in me a desire to speak out, I have done my utmost throughout my life, for the sake of my children and myself, to remain silent … But now, in my seventieth year, I have decided to tell the story of my life as best I can, so that my children can separate the truth from the myths that others have created about me, as myths are created about everyone swept up in the turbulent and distorting maelstrom of celebrity in our culture.

I was kind of a media dropout. I was lucky if I could name the president. I was much more inner-world oriented.

All I'd ever done was sing songs that were dead straight and expressed powerful new realities. I had very little in common with and knew even less about a generation that I was supposed to be the voice of.

The transition to Hollywood was difficult in having to let go of control of how I was perceived. It’s embarrassing to admit you care, but as a 20-year-old you do. Pimped out to a world of press, you can feel picked apart. Before, no one knew me.

I grew up in a family where no one was in the entertainment business. So stand-up and acting were seen as something unrealistic. I always thought it was just people in L.A. and New York that became actors or comedians.

I've been singing for six years. I've been in and out of the studios with top producers, but it wasn't something I was ready to express to the public or to the press. I wasn't ready to come out. I wanted to perfect my voice and be 100 percent positive that I could come out right.