On my mother's side, I'm English, so that's where the freckles come from. On my father's side, I'm German, and he has the fantastic olive hues... I was given mum's skin, whereas my brothers and sisters were given my dad's skin. I do tan up quite well, but it takes me a bit longer.
I've got three brothers and two sisters. Dad was a plumber who worked really hard to support six children, and Mum was busy at home. The four brothers shared a room, a bunk bed on each side. It wasn't luxurious.
It was the old psychosomatic side-step. Everyone in my family dances it at every opportunity. You've given me a splitting headache! You've given me indigestion! You've given me crotch rot! You've given me auditory hallucinations! You've given me a heart attack! You've given me cancer!
I don't have olive skin. Nobody could tell from my skin that I'm Mediterranean. I'm quite fair, and I do burn easily.
My father, my uncles, my aunts, from my father's side and my mother's side... they were all professional musicians. My father was a concert master, he took me to a lot of rehearsals, concerts, performances, opera, ballet. For me, that was life.
When I was younger, I had terrible skin... my mother has terrible skin. Male-pattern hair loss is starting to come in... my dad is bald. It's so unfair; my brother's tall, has perfect skin, great hair, but I'm like the runt.
I have olive skin, so if I get pale, I look green. I have to tan.
My dad's an English teacher and my mum's a midwife. Then my mum's side of the family are all crazy creative.
We are all brothers and sisters under the skin and above it . . . it's super important that we stop lobbing bombs over the top of the wall and start trying to dismantle it, so that we can say 'hi' to whoever is on the other side, whether the divide is religious or nationalistic or politic or economic.
I feel like it's me singing back to myself as a younger person and saying have confidence in being a bit different. I really felt I didn't fit in. My dad was from the Caribbean, my mum was English, we lived in quite a white area but we were quite poor, but also quite brainy, and I was a really, really skinny child so I felt a bit awkward about all these things.
When I was nine years old, living on the south side of Chicago, my father was a minister and my mother used to scrub floors. I had seven brothers and four sisters. I told my mama, 'One of these days I'm going to be big and strong and buy you a beautiful house.' That's all I've ever wanted to do with my life, is to take care of my mother.
My family is Abenaki Indian on my mother's side. My father's side of the family is Slovak, and we also have some English ancestry.
My whole family, my father's side, there was a great deal of depression, and my mother's side as well.
It is important to me to take care of my skin. In general I don't like to wear foundation; I'm not a fan of the look. I like my skin fresh and natural enough so my freckles show through.
I lost quite a bit of skin on the left side of my body and sustained some deep cuts in my hand and around my knee, but the doctors were able to stitch it all back together. Luckily I didn't hurt my shoulder but I'm now at the point where the only thing on my body which isn't hurting is my bad shoulder.
Given this voice, I know it does sound like I've come from money. But my dad was Canadian and my mum Hungarian, so it's not like I have some high-society, upper-class English background.
Military members understand that the focus is on completing the mission. We don't care if you are tall or short; have dark skin or pale skin or freckles; or are gay, straight, or transgender.