My whole life I've had the fear that I was going to be abandoned..

My mother never wanted me to focus on my physical self. She always said that beauty is what you do..

After all, everybody has secrets and there are some things that nobody knows about you but only you, right?.

And you also have to do movies that are about commerce because that's what is required of the industry today..

I never wanted to be a model. My modelling career was nothing but a stepping stone to my acting career and that's all I ever saw it as. A pointless r….

What's hardest for me to swallow is when there is a love story, say, with a really high-profile male star and there's no reason I can't play the part….

As a woman, when you embrace where you are in life, then I think the struggle [life] isn't so hard. If you're 42 and still think you're an ingenue, t….

I am so ready to be a mommy. I can't wait. I notice every little baby dress, every little baby toy, every little baby thing..

I also have been called that terrible "N" word straight to my face and not known what to do about it because it was just in like 1993 that someone ca….

I think I am at my best when my hair is short. It's easier to take care of and more of who I am. Women are conditioned to think we need long hair..

A person's self-esteem has nothing to do with how she looks..

The day I saw my mom eating the Santa cookies on the plate was one of the most horrific days of my life..

I've become really comfortable with my sexuality and making no excuses for it anymore..

I've never been afraid to be who I really am on screen..

I used to have to downplay my sexuality because I wanted to be taken so seriously as a thespian and as an artist and as an actor, so I'd play crack h….

Sexuality is part of being a woman, it's part of what empowers us when we're smart enough to know how to use it..

By the time I left school, I had a lot of tenacity..

Blackness is a state of mind and I identify with the black community. Mainly, because I realized, early on, when I walk into a room, people see a bla….

My pregnancy was amazing. I was happy that whole time, I felt good, I had energy, I was like Superwoman. I wish I could feel like that for the rest o….

I learned up less is more.The makeup used to wear me and now I wear the makeup..

I'm not afraid of portraying anything on-screen.