My husband used to shout at my mother, 'What is wrong with your daughter? I'm married to a man.'
It's important that the sexes understand each other.
When I started modelling, I'd raise my arms and it was all muscle and all the other models had nothing. Really, everybody thought I was a man. I don't have to do much to have muscles. It's just genetic.
Gaga came to me, and I just could not find a soul. I come from church; maybe that has something to do with it. I like to get to the soul of a person. I just didn't feel a soul.
I loved all those classic figures from the '30s and '40s... Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Humphrey Bogart, Rita Hayworth. They had such glamour and style. I loved the movies of those times too - so much attention paid to details, lights, clothing, the way the studios would develop talent.
I don't think 'pop' should mean that you had no talent.
You can't expect your children to be perfect.
More having to do whatever anybody said you had to do. I couldn't really do anything on my own. But as I got older and then came to America and then Grace became my name, it somehow freed me. All of a sudden, I can be this other person.
Listen to my advice; I have some experience. In a way, it is me being a teacher, which is what I wanted to be. I still feel I could go into teaching. What is teaching but passing on your knowledge to those who are at the beginning? Some people are born with that gift.
Now when I enter a carriage, it almost empties. But there's always one brave enough to stay.
I'm not as impatient as I used to be. I used to hit people if I didn't like what they were saying. Just lash out. 'Bam - shut up! Hahahah!' I was terrible.
I believe in individuality, that everybody is special, and it's up to them to find that quality and let it live.
I always thought that feminine, softer side was just too vulnerable to put out there, because then it's like you're opening up a door for everybody to come in, and you don't know who's going to come in that door.
Human beings should stick together. Honestly, if I see a red-haired person with blue eyes now, I say, 'Is your granny black?'
Growing up in Jamaica, the Pentecostal church wasn't that fiery thing you might think. It was very British, very proper. Hymns. No dancing. Very quiet. Very fundamental.
I was born into a very religious family where everything was about setting the right example for the community and having to obey orders blindly. I felt that everyone was growing up in the world, except me. This is probably one of the reasons why I had such a rebellious attitude towards any form of authority.
Some people are both genders. I think you just come out the way you come out, and you have to embrace it honestly.
Religion has stayed with me even though I rebelled.
I like to experiment, and as an actress, I always thought it's good to be open about a lot of things.
My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring pianist with Nat King Cole. My family was an explosive mixture of politics, religion and music - no wonder I turned out how I did.
Normally, I stay away from politics - unless I'm going to run for president.
The problem with the Dorises and the Nicki Minajes and Mileys is that they reach their goal very quickly. There is no long-term vision, and they forget that once you get into that whirlpool, then you have to fight the system that solidifies around you in order to keep being the outsider you claim you represent.
Models are there to look like mannequins, not like real people. Art and illusion are supposed to be fantasy.
I have been so copied by those people who have made fortunes that people assume I am that rich. But I did things for the excitement, the dare, the fact that it was new, not for the money. And too many times I was the first, not the beneficiary.
I don't wear jewelry, so I wear furs. I don't have diamonds.
I wanted to be a 'jungle mom', where you're giving birth and getting up and doing things straightaway.
I don't take the English press seriously at all because all they want is dirt... I hate them.
Sometimes we'd have to climb a tree and pick our own whips to be disciplined with. When you had to pick your own whip, you knew you were in for it.
I don't like people who hide things. We're not perfect, we all have things that people might not like to see, and I like to show my faults.
My brother used to get beaten up all the time because he was very effeminate.
I don't party now, and nobody really knows how to party with me anymore. So I stay in a lot. I really am a home person.
People always like to make me seem taller than I am.
Rock n' roll can get quite overwhelming. You can get caught up in the cycle.
Most performers take themselves too seriously. They forget there is a difference between the characters they play on the screen or stage and themselves, but the public doesn't forget there is a difference. They see how silly it is if you try to be the same person all the time.
To be honest, my life is not really as way-out and myth-loaded as people like to portray it.
I was the only black girl at my junior high school. I had an afro, a Jamaican accent, I looked really old.
I like to isolate myself when I work because I end up losing my voice by doing interviews all day.
If people think I'm angry, I don't want to burst anybody's bubble. I like sometimes for people to be afraid of me. But it's not really anger; it's discipline.
Shock always sells. You know? But you could shock in good taste.
I go feminine, I go masculine. I am both, actually. I think the male side is a bit stronger in me, and I have to tone it down sometimes. I'm not like a normal woman, that's for sure.
Even though the agency kept me pretty busy, I auditioned for every play and film I could find. But they all wanted a black American sound, and I just didn't have it. Finally, I got tired of trotting around and took myself to Paris.
There is some Eighties music that is just timeless. The melodies, the lyrics... I called it church. Church in club. You can shout and dance. The best of the Eighties was club church.
I'm not a rock star; I'm a soft person.
My mother was a champion high-jumper. My three brothers are basketball players. We've all been very athletic.
One creates oneself.
Music has its own depths, and I let it take me where it takes me, even if it means stripping all my clothes off.
I am not a diva: I am a Jones. 'Diva' is so overused. Diva, icons, the whole thing, legends... To be a diva, what is that?
I don't like people who hide things.
I only move forwards, never backwards, darling.
