I never had any freedom - over my whole life, there had always been people telling me what to do. And when I did finally get that freedom I had no idea what to do with it - that was something I hadn't been trained for.
An artist shouldn't be judged by how many people like his art but by how pure and good it is - but I think that when you're telling jokes, which is more what I'm doing, if people aren't laughing, you're telling bad jokes.
I was so amazingly witty when I had the No. 1 movie, you have no idea. People laughed at every single one of my jokes. Then when I hadn't had a hit for three or four years, some of these same people pretended they didn't see me when I walked in the room.
I have some speakers up here, thank God, because last night I didn't have them and I was telling jokes and I had no idea which joke I was telling. So I told jokes twice. I even told that one twice.
When I wrote "Lead Me," I had no idea that God was preparing me to lead my family through a season of great adversity. It was only a month after Pieces of a Real Heart was released that my wife, Sarah, and I found out that our son had a severe, life-threatening heart defect.
When you see me on the pitch, I will always be smiling, always laughing, always playing jokes. I grew up as somebody who was always laughing. In England, people will tell me that I should not laugh, but you cannot stop me from laughing. It's impossible.
I have pleasures, and passions, but the joy of life is gone. I am going under: the morgue yawns for me. I go and look at my zinc-bed there. After all, I had a wonderful life, which is, I fear, over.
I always sang after every dinner or when we had people over or when we had a show in school. I just loved to be on stage and sing in front of people.
I had a director who told me a story about a fan who had commented on how nice it was to see her sister laughing and how happy the show made her. I like to make people happy and make them laugh.
I don't want people kissing my butt. If I had a bad show and I know it, don't tell me I had a good show. I hate that. I guess because I'm 17, people think I don't see stuff like that.
Before I ever had my record deal, I just had a publishing deal over at Sony ATV. I had that title, 'Flatliner,' and just the idea of a girl stopping everybody's heart - just kind of a fun idea.
The boys, they are laughing: 'Oh, you are boxing. Very funny.' But I always challenge when people are laughing - 'I'll show you one day.' After getting five times world champion, they are all quiet. And they respect me.
My life had become a catastrophe. I had no idea how to turn it around. My band had broken up. I had almost lost my family. My whole life had devolved into a disaster. I believe that the police officer who stopped me at three a.m. that morning saved my life.
I had always wanted to belong, and I had been thinking that this was going to get solved when I had money, and instead, I had no idea how I wanted to live my life. And no one teaches you what to do after you achieve financial independence. So I had to confront that.
I have people constantly come up to me telling me that I have written their life. When I wrote the story I thought it was a pretty good story but I had no idea that many people felt like that.
I see the joy in life and I see the joy in simple things. I over-compliment. I over-praise. I over-express my feelings toward people because I never got it in my family. I am the first to hug somebody, because I wasn't hugged.