I never not wanted to be a singer. Since I was 3, I knew this was what I wanted to do. Well, I can't say I wanted to do it, but I fantasized and thought about it all the time. I never thought it would actually happen.
I never wanted the temptation to imitate or emulate something that had been done beforehand.
I never thought I'd be a person who would want to write books...I promise you not a single English teacher I've ever had would have thought that this would be going on right now.
I had no preconceived idea what fame would be like, because I never thought I would be famous. I just wanted to do my work. Hell, I just wanted to pay my rent on time.
I founded 'Point Hope' so that I could accomplish some things I wanted to do for children who had no one to advocate for them, children who had no voice. Since I have been blessed with a voice on the radio each night, I thought I would use my celebrity position and my financial resources to help these kids.
At a very young age, I wrote down the goals that I had so I could always see what I wanted to accomplish. And I would look at that goal sheet and think "I still want to do this."So I'd decide "I'm not quitting."
Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would accomplish what I have in the sport
I never took the game for granted as far as not having to work on what I needed to do to accomplish all of the things that I wanted to accomplish.
When the media would call and want to interview me, I thought it was 'cause they really wanted to find out what I thought about things. I thought it was because they really wanted to find out who I am. That's not what they wanted. They already in their minds knew who I was and they didn't like it, and they wanted face-to-face opportunities to expose my defects and my problems and my racism and bigotry and all this.
There I was as a kid: a closeted homosexual who wants to be an actress. I had no choice! Wanting to act was something I was wired with when I was born. I never thought I would have success or celebrity, although I did want that. But what I wanted more than anything was to work.
I thought beforehand, if [Marie] Henein is going to be a shark, I'm going to be a jellyfish, because you can't catch a jellyfish. Not that I didn't want to be caught, I just wanted to present solid.
I did not see myself as a leading lady. I thought I was really funny-looking and I would never be the lead, and I certainly would never do film or television. I wanted to do theater. I wanted to be the grand dame of the American stage.
From the moment I got to Hollywood, I've always felt like I never really got to do what I wanted to do. In general, artists feel that you're never really allowed to accomplish what you would like to accomplish because there's just so much of this system that gets in the way; the business gets in the way of the art.
I had a lot of respect for what my dad did and the success that he had. I wanted to give it a try. He never forced me in any way to go this route. It was my decision. He would push me to work harder at it but only because it was my decision to race. If there was ever a day when I didn't want to do it any more, he would be fine.
I just wanted to get to the NBA. I never thought I would have a career that I've had now.
But as a young kid, I never did, really have an ambition to be a farmer. I never thought, gee, I would like to farm, and I want to raise these crops. I didn't quite know what I wanted to do.