I always dreamt of being a girl. One of my earliest memories is spinning around in my mom's skirt trying to look like a ballerina.
As a little girl, I didn't dream of being a ballet dancer; I dreamt of being a movie star like Ginger Rogers and dancing with Fred Astaire. I used to watch the Sunday double-bills on TV and Iong to be part of what seemed a perfect Disneyland world. Astaire was a genius.
I think, by nature you know, I'm very attracted and I gravitate toward the very strong girl who can watch a ballgame, but who's also extremely feminine.
I broke my nose in gym when a ball hit me. I took a girl to her debutante ball the next week wearing a tux and a big, honking bandage. Not the romantic night she had in mind.
Originally, 'The Windup Girl' started as a short story - a very gnarly, complicated short story set in Bangkok that didn't work very well.
When I got to NYU, I had applied based on playing folk music, and they said, 'You're the banjo girl,' so I thought ,'OK, I'm the banjo girl.'
I feel my personality is richer than my bank account. So if I meet a girl, maybe first she just likes me because I'm rich. But then she's gonna get to know me and say, 'Screw the money.'
If a girl comes to me first for a prom or a bar mitzvah and she likes the way she looks and her boyfriend likes the way she looks, she'll come back.
I have a lot of other stuff to accomplish before I get to kids. Whenever the time is right, I'll just know. If I had a girl, she'd probably be really rebellious. She would be like a bundle of karma. I would love to bring them up in Barbados.
I usually get myself into situations that cause sparks. I mean I'm a girl that likes the storms. I love feeling alive, I love walking out in the cold in my bare feet and feeling the ice on my toes.
I used to run around barefoot and climb trees and pick fruit and sell it on the side of the road like a real island girl.
I don't walk barefoot. When I see a girl barefoot in the street... I'm like, 'Really?' But obviously, I can't judge someone for that first impression.
I always like to sing barefoot, but when I first started doing these dates with the symphonies, I of course thought I should clean up my act, being a Jewish girl from Long Island with a little bit of a trucker mouth. So I wore a gown and some high heels.
I have never been so calculating as to sing some Barry White song to get a girl. But I do think it's very romantic to cook dinner and sit around the piano at night and sing together.
In one week, I went from being a girl who owed a guy thousands of dollars - my manager Anthony was paying for my outfits, paying for my food; I was sleeping in his parents' basement - to taking meetings with every major label in America. The next morning, I had a record deal and wrote him a cheque to pay back all that money.
My fans are pretty spot-on with their gifts. This girl that was super into baking had made this entire batch of cookies - there were one with a dandelion on it, one with a trailer, and some had my face.
I don't normally do shoots in bikinis - I'm just not that kind of girl. But for 'Maxim' I was like, 'Bring it on!' I wanted to wear the higher heels and the skimpier bathing suit. I figured I'd go for it!
'Baywatch' was one of those shows that you auditioned for all the time as a young girl. I auditioned once to play a blind girl and didn't get it. I was constantly auditioning for it.
I'm very proud of 'Every Girl's a Super Girl.' I want all girls to know that no matter what size, color, or shape, whatever they are, that every girl is a super girl! They should be brave, confident, and have fun and enjoy every day!
Since I don't look like every other girl, it takes a while to be okay with that. To be different. But different is good.