ALANA STEWART

We've all seen the media endlessly focus on the personal lives of celebrities. Most of it is gossip and tabloid fodder.

No matter what kind of challenges or difficulties or painful situations you go through in your life, we all have something deep within us that we can reach down and find the inner strength to get through them.

It bothers me when the Hollywood elite are all so against people having guns and want rigorous gun restrictions.

Men come and go - God knows they certainly have in my life - but girlfriends are for ever. I have a lot of girlfriends but only a few very, very close ones.

I sleep with my gun on my bedside table. I live alone; it is my protection and makes me feel safer. I have had to pull it out a few times when I have heard noises at night, but I've never had to use it.

In my life, there have been people that I was convinced would be around forever, and yet, somehow they managed to drift away after a couple of years. Likewise there have been people who have begun as casual acquaintances but become more important with each passing year.

I've elected to age gracefully.

Through a long and painful process, I've learned that happiness is an inside job - not based on anything or anyone in the outer material world. I've become a different and better person - not perfect, but still a work in progress.

I grew up poor and used to look at people in big houses and thought they had everything. Then, later on, I looked at models in magazines and thought they had it all. When you have the ability to live that life, to some extent you find out that they don't have any magic cure for everything.

I sleep with my gun on my bedside table. I live alone; it is my protection and makes me feel safer.

I've aged well because I've had to take care of myself.

Our thoughts really do create our lives. They've done a lot of research showing if you're an optimistic, positive person you will be a healthier person than if you're a sad, depressed, negative person.

People might have the impression I had an easy life, but it's been anything but that.

I watch what I eat. I'm careful with exercise. I do enough to try to stay healthy, but I don't overdo, and I pace myself... Most important of all though, I try to think healthy thoughts.

Sometimes you just have to let go of the old and trust that something better is going to take its place, even if it's scary to face change and the unknown.

I resisted writing a book for a long time because I didn't want to invade anyone else's privacy or hurt anyone or anger anyone.

Young people don't really study the facts; they watch the skewed MSNBC and get a primarily liberal education.

I grew up poor and used to look at people in big houses and thought they had everything. Then later on I looked at models in magazines and thought they had it all.

I used to think that divorce meant failure, but now I see it more as a step along the path of self-realization and growth.

I first got sick after I had my daughter, Kimberly, 21 years ago. I'd always been energetic and never had any serious medical problems. Then I got very sick with a high fever. They told me I had mononucleosis. I became pregnant right away with Sean, and after he was born, I never seemed to recover.

For anyone going through a divorce or any other painful challenge, the first and most important recommendation I can make is to find some kind of spiritual and emotional support.

I went to one doctor who told me I wasn't exercising enough. I was so exhausted, I couldn't raise my arm. When this doctor called it psychosomatic, I was enraged. To think the constant sore throat and swollen glands were all in my head was infuriating.

I don't regret either of my marriages - not for a minute.

Somewhere deep inside me was the will and determination not only to live, but to be a more present mother for my kids, instead of one who was emotionally unavailable because she was in so much pain, as my own mother was.

Being friends with anyone for 30 years is no easy task - people change, they drift apart, they move on.