A Quote by Natascha McElhone

Growing up, I wasn't allowed dolls, and my brothers weren't allowed guns. I inherited my brothers' clothes. I was never dressed in pink, and they were never dressed in blue; there were none of those rules that people still bizarrely subscribe to.
I always took a great interest in my clothes. My sister, who was 13 months older, and I always dressed alike, but as I got a little bit older, I didn't like that because I wanted to dress differently. So our mother would put Patty in blue and Polly in pink, or we would wear complementary colors, but the shapes we were wearing were always the same, and I was very interested in that. I also took great interest in my dolls and their clothes.
I grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, in New York. My parents were very religious churchgoing people. They were very strict. I was never really allowed to indulge in anything vain. Modesty always. I have three brothers and two sisters, so everything was on a budget.
With two older brothers, I was a tomboy in one sense, but on the other hand I really loved dolls. My brothers weren't very happy when I nicked their Action Men to play with my dolls and they were appalled when I made them kiss my Barbies.
From 13, I knew my family was different to anybody else's. You weren't allowed to talk back at your parents or look at them funny. You weren't allowed to leave food on your plate, you weren't allowed to keep the change when you went shopping. There were a lot of rules growing up; but I don't see anything wrong with that.
I didn't like playing with dolls; I didn't like getting dressed up. A lot of my friends and people I went to school with were into fashion and their clothes, so I lacked a bit of self-belief and confidence... I wasn't really comfortable.
In my home, guns were not something to be earned or celebrated. Water guns and Nerf guns were not allowed outside. B.B. guns were not even a part of the conversation.
I was growing up in the New Wave period, but that wasn't allowed in school. I remember moments when they wouldn't let four people dressed in black stand together on the playground.
The first comedians I became fascinated with were the Marx brothers. I couldn't get enough of them. Later in life, I thought, "Well, maybe it's because they were so rebellious and they were just flipping the bird to society and all the rules we're supposed to follow." They were saying that none of it is fair.
There was so much going on. I remember a very interesting dinner in the studio of [Robert] Rauschenberg. He had convinced Sidney Janis, Leo Castelli, and a third big gallery man to serve us, the artists, at the table. So they were dressed up as waiters, we were sitting at the table, and they were only allowed to sit down at the end of the table for the cognac. This is not possible now.
My dad played guitar, and so there were always guitars kicking around the house that I was never allowed to touch. My cousin gave me a twin-neck electric guitar for one of my birthdays. It was amazing. Even though it was mine, I was never allowed to pick it up.
I was always around wrestling. I went to shows, but I never pictured myself where I am today. My brothers, David and Reid, were more into wrestling. When they wrestled, it was hard on my brothers because they were always compared to my dad.
I did one show in Chennai. There was this little kid, dressed up as I dressed in 'Blue Eyes.' That's fame for me.
This book was written in those long hours I spent waiting for my wife to get dressed to go out. And if she had never gotten dressed at all this book would never have been written.
My father raised us like... we were not allowed to see people in any sort of colors, but also we were not allowed to call people fat. If ever we were to say, 'Oh that fat person, or this person,' he would make us put a bar of soap in our mouth and count to 10. We weren't allowed to look at people like that.
My father raised us like … we were not allowed to see people in any sort of colors, but also we were not allowed to call people fat. If ever we were to say, ‘Oh that fat person, or this person,’ he would make us put a bar of soap in our mouth and count to 10. We weren’t allowed to look at people like that.
I don't spend my life getting dressed! I have to put clothes on during the day; I don't get dressed up at all when I'm working. I'll wear jeans, or something very simple.
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