When I was a teenager, I was fat. I was shy. I wore glasses. I had a big eyebrow and hair all over my body. They were years of torture.

When I was younger, I was shy. I was overweight. I wore glasses. I got teased a lot, I grew up watching pageants, but I never thought I was going to become Miss USA.

Touring is hard. It's really hard on the singer, especially, because your body is your instrument and you have to be so good, it's like boot camp out there; I can't do anything - just sleep, sing and be very healthy.

I hated my big hair. I always wore it straight.

I spent 15 years on the road between touring and recording and I never saw anything. I want to enjoy life.

As an immigrant, I appreciate, far more than the average American, the liberties we have in this country. Silence is a big enemy of morality. I don't want our blunders in history to get repeated.