I'm really trying not to feel I'm getting spoiled, because the way I look at it, since I'm not a main character of any of the movies, I realize just how fortunate I am.
I've never really been a careerist; I've never been able to step back and look at anything in that way. I though this is just what happens. I did take my work very seriously. I loved immersing myself in a character. I loved getting the opportunity to do that. I didn't realize how extraordinary it was, how lucky I was, because I was young.
I feel fortunate that I've had a lot of songs recorded by other people, because I take my songwriting very seriously. It's only those people that have followed me over the years and really know my work that know how serious I am about all of it - including the way I look. You can't take my high heels from me, you can't have my long fingernails, you can't take all this hair from me, because it's part of this thing that I've become. I wouldn't want to give any of it up. Do I have to be ugly to be a songwriter? This is the way I am, and it's what I choose to be.
It's never been about trying to look well-behaved. It's just how I am. I guess it's a weird thing to be 19 and not ever have been drunk, but for me, it just feels normal because I don't really know any other way. I don't know if I'd be comfortable getting wasted and not knowing what I've said. That doesn't mean when I'm older I won't have a glass of wine. I just don't think it's such a strange thing for me not to be wasted all the time.
To take pressure off myself, I realize how fortunate I am to be playing a sport for a living. If I take that mentality onto the court, there shouldn't be any pressure because I'm already fortunate to do what I do.
That's what I am trying to be, just trying to affect the game any way possible, rebounding, getting a block, or trying to get a stop even when your shot isn't falling, because, at the end of the day, all that matters is whether you win or lose.
It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it.
A lot of horror movies just look at how they can scare people, and no matter which character dies, you don't ever really feel enough to actually care.
I just feel so lucky and fortunate to be a part of all these 'first-evers.' Now it's getting to a point where we don't even have to say the 'first-ever' or anything like that because it's just become the norm. Before, it was, 'Oh my gosh, the women are the main event of 'Smackdown' tonight.' And now it's, 'The women are the main event.'
When you're a director, you have great respect for directors. I am really pretty loyal to any director that I am working for and I want to help them realize whatever story and mood and tone that they're trying to realize. As an actor, you really just are a cog - you are an important cog, but you are just a piece of the machine.
I’ve been thinking about that ever since. Am I lucky? Am I lucky that I didn’t die? Am I lucky that, compared to the other kids here, my life doesn’t seem so bad? Maybe I am, but I have to say, I don’t feel lucky. For one thing, I’m stuck in this pit. And just because your life isn’t as awful as someone else’s, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck. You can’t compare how you feel to the way other people feel. It just doesn’t work. What might look like the perfect life—or even an okay life—to you might not be so okay for the person living it.
I am getting better offers since directors feel that I am versatile and can be more than just a girl next door. I am also seriously trying not to be repetitive.
I remind myself everyday just how lucky I am to do what I love! I feel so fortunate and I'm just trying to take my life one day at a time.
I think the main problem people have getting older, whether they know it or not, is that you're closer to dying. And we may fixate on not wanting to look a certain way, but it really is just the clock ticking, that it means, "Oh, I am not immortal!".
Just because no one has been fortunate enough to realize how wonderful you are, doesnt mean you shine any less.
When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we're capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I'm trying for that. But I'm also trying for the language. I'm trying to see how it can really sound.
I feel I have been protected all my life. I am still here, for God's sake, and a lot of my contemporaries have gone. I'm very fortunate. No matter the difficulties - and we all have difficulties - I am definitely one of the fortunate ones. If I have any really good characteristics, one is that I am resilient.