Directors didn't want to work with me because I was 'too controlling.' If it had been a man, it wouldn't have meant a damn thing.
At 11 years old, I made a very definitive decision, and my decision was that I wanted to be happy. Above and beyond anything I ever did in my life, I wanted to be happy.
I've been practicing modalities of Eastern philosophy since about 1972. What I've learned through my meditation is a sense of equanimity, a sense of all things being equal.
'Liberation' is an interesting word because you can be liberated from external things and also from your internal dialogue.
Attention for children is so much about input, and the brain can only filter so much - I don't know how many millions of messages that come through the brain, and we can only filter so much through it.
A child's giggle tickles me deeply, and it breaks my heart when that begins to disappear. So I do what I can to create opportunities for children to continue to laugh and rediscover their joy.
When I started go-go dancing on tables for a living, I didn't want to tell my mom or my dad. I made 25 dollars a night, and I was able to make my rent, with the four girls I lived with.
I do eat a lot of greens. I eat healthy, but I'm not a vegetarian.
I'm generally known as a happy person, but years ago, I suffered from panic and anxiety. I've learned to manage the fear and pain.
Not every relationship works, and that is the truth, and I don't care whether you're a movie star or just a person on the street, normal life. Everybody's normal, relationships are always normal. I think movie stars have a little bit harder time because the cameras are on there all the time. But you have to be who you are.
People ask if I feel pigeon-holed by always doing the same kind of humorous role. But my tool has always been humor because it's the most entertaining way to put any ideology across, and it's fun, and it's positive, and it's a healer. Laughter is God's gift. I feel privileged to be able to do it.
The interesting part of my spiritual life is studying as much as you can. Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism and Shamanism and Judaism, Christianity - you try to learn what the precepts are, what the religion is, and ultimately, it's based in the same thought, it's based in the same outcome, you know.
I want to know where joy lives. I'd interview scientists, religious leaders and heads of state. I'd want to find out exactly what makes people happy. I'd want to look into the biology, the chemistry of the human brain.
I like to cook, and I tend to make those one-pot meat dishes of my Hungarian ancestors. Also, I make a great Bolognese.
I feel there are injustices in the world that I'll stand up for, and I think that it's important to realize that the world is filled with these kinds of issues.
When you have a Jewish mother who has a very strong Jewish family, it's very ethnic in its practices. Eating brisket, the food and the family and the interconnectedness for better or worse.
I believe having religion in your life creates the potential for long-lasting relationships.
I would like to see a mandate for social and emotional learning absolutely mandated in every state.
Central to our work and our goal of finding solutions to global problems is the concept of mindfulness, a technique for focusing attention objectively on the here and now.
Mindfulness can help people of any age. That's because we become what we think.