I wanted to act; that was my one goal. I wanted to devote all my time to acting and not waitressing or anything else.
Is it harder having kids and working? It definitely is, but the payoff is you get to go home to your kids, and it all balances out. And I know I'm a better mother when I'm engaged in something outside of the house.
It's a very complicated issue, this fame thing - I was not really cut out for it. There are some really fantastic things about it, but it's difficult for a private person like myself.
One of the ways I think I gain fodder for characters is by watching people.
I've also learned to no longer feel guilty if I'm invited out and don't want to go. If I start to say to myself, 'What's wrong with you that you're staying in five nights in a row to watch 'Forensic Files' instead of going out with your friends' I remind myself that it's what I need to do for myself at that point.
I'm an old-school, embarrassing Joni Mitchell fan. Her music made a hook in my soul and hasn't let go for all these years. I even sing her songs as lullabies to my kids.
We're living in a time when parenting is not at all mirroring the way I was parented. For me, I just followed my parents around on their errands; when they were busy on the phone, I was quiet. It's a different kettle of fish these days: They run the house, and you listen to their music, and you go to their appointments.
I have lots of friends and, like me, they're not married. So my kids have lots of godparents - men and women, gay and straight. My loft is always filled with people helping me out with them and loving them.
The second you are handed a newborn it is yours. It doesn't matter what body it came out of. I've never felt more strongly about anything in my life.
I was able to support myself by acting alone about six years ago. Until then, I was just scraping by.
