to be an actress of color who can make a difference and go down a path that no woman has gone before.

I don't see a white woman. I see a black woman, even though my mother is white [her father Jerome is black]. Knowing that has made my life easier, I think.

Let me tell you something - being thought of as a beautiful woman has spared me nothing in life. No heartache, no trouble. Love has been difficult. Beauty is essentially meaningless and it is always transitory.

Blackness is a state of mind, and I identify with the black community. Mainly, because I realized, early on, when I walk into a room, people see a black woman, they don't see a white woman. So out of that reason alone, I identify more with the black community.

I spent a lot of time with a crown on my head.

When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner.