We grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young age.

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I was like, 'What is this?' Until I found out it was stress related. That's how I internalized it. I don't do that anymore. My favorite saying in the world is, 'The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.' I am telling you, I have spent so much of my life not feeling comfortable in my skin. I am just so not there anymore.

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They say the two most important days in a person's life were the day you were born and the day you discover why you were born.

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Sometimes you see how humanity can rise above any kind of cultural ills and hate that a person's capacity to love and communicate and forgive can be bigger than anything else.

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Do not live someone else's life and someone else's idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that's inside of you.

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I want my work to reflect my level of gifts and talent

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You have two stark choices when you find yourself in a really desperate situation. You can either fold and cave-in to it or you can become really passionate about getting out of it. When you're really passionate, you're going to grab hold of every rope you see, and wrap them around your arms and legs to claw your way out. And that's the way I've felt in my life.

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You cannot live to please everyone else. You have to edify, educate and fulfill your own dreams and destiny.

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I just look at women sometimes and I just want to ask them, "Do you know how fabulous you are?"

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Self-deprecation is not an answer to keeping one's balance. I think that it's very damaging.

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