When I first became famous in the United Kingdom it was helpful because it meant there wasn't a spite of 'this bloke's a drug addict,' 'this bloke f**ks all these women' because I was just making jokes about all those things already, so it made me some kind of incorruptible indefatigable, indestructible force.
You know what kills me about Jennifer Lopez? The fact that this woman wakes up one day and she's like, 'You know what? From now on, I'd like people to call me J-Lo,' and then they do it. Only a celebrity can get away with this. George Bush doesn't come out for his morning press conferences: 'From now on, I'd like to be referred to as G-Bu. Y'all know my vice president, Dog Chain.
The succession of cheerful, period musicals I made, plus Oscar Levant's widely publicized remark about my virginity, contributed to what has been called my "image", which is a word that baffles me. There never was any intent on my part either in my acting or in my private life to create any such thing as an image.
I've been in the public eye for about 15 or 16 years and I'm very aware that fame is not a given. I have to maintain it. It's not just something that will always be there.
In Hollywood everything is so documented. If you go for a drink with somebody, it's passed around the world so quickly. So, yes, divorce is talked about a lot, but it's so much more fun to be able to spin it with dark humour, rather than talk about real people's divorces.
There are drawbacks in being famous too, but you can live with those. They're not life-threatening. If the paparazzi are outside your restaurant or your house - and actors make such a big thing of it and scurry into cars and drape things - you think they're going to be crucified or something. It's not a big deal. You can get used to that. It's not so terrible.
A lot of artists have been persuaded into doing whatever they can do to gain attention. The media, of course, will position and promote the worst of them to the front page. The sidewalk to crime becomes the marketing campaign. These artists have seen it work and sell millions and millions of records for other artists.
I think there's nothing new going on. Except that, you're even more public than you've ever been.There's some good and some bad to that.
Maybe I'll create a guidebook for future political spouses: the dos and don'ts in D.C.
I think, being a public figure - which, I have to admit, I guess I'm largely responsible for, in terms of going out and putting myself out there - comes with its own burdens, and its own things that cause you stress, and its own worries.
I've never been much for self-revelation. In two decades of public life, I always approached the limelight with extreme caution. Not that I kept my personal life off-limits; rather, the personal life I put on display was a blend of fact and fiction.
It's almost a standard tactic, really, to try to minimize any effort that people in the entertainment business or in any public occupation make to express themselves.
Many people who gain recognition and fame shape their lives by overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, only to be catapulted into new social realities over which they have less control and manage badly. Indeed, the annals of the famous and infamous are strewn with individuals who were both architects and victims of their life courses.
The more popular a person thinks he is in the blogosphere, the thinner his skin and the thicker his hypocrisy. This should be exactly the opposite: the higher you go the thicker the skin and thinner the hypocrisy.
It's very hard, when you're a famous person, to "de-famous" your home, but tokens of my fame just felt like a burden for my children. And for me.
Growing up in public is a test, and not many people know how to do it.
I'm intensely private, and I've openly shown annoyance at the paparazzi. That's served in the past to create an image of me where I'm always frowning or looking angry.
It's the same thing he said a few months ago when he refrained from bringing up Bill's [Clinton] affairs and all the women. Even though Hillary [Clinton] was blasting him for being a sexist and so forth, [Donald] Trump refrained from bringing up Bill.
I've been a public person for most of my life. It has advantages and disadvantages. I can't take my kids to Disneyland. On the other hand, I can get a table at a restaurant or tickets to a play.
There are those superstars who refuse to give anything of themselves to the public except what they see on-screen. In movies and on records, it's easy to insulate one's self from the public; that's why I think I wouldn't care to be a television performer, particularly in the States, where TV stardom is so intimate.
We knew the time would come that we'd have to step down because we'd been winning Oscars for 15 years. I discovered this one day when I got home, my mother was reading a newspaper and she said, 'Again? What are you doing in the papers?' And I realized if my mother thought that of me, what would my enemies think?
There are some public figures who are very private and almost hide behind their work. I try to be as open as possible.
That's not going to happen, because I don't want it to happen. I don't want a movie about me until I'm very, very old - when I'm very, very old, everybody that wants to play me will be middle-aged.
I know certain actors are totally screwed up on drugs, yet it gets covered up. Why wasn't I excused for 'exhaustion' or 'the flu'?
There's so many moving pieces, but to be as public as I've become and to be at the front and take the brunt of anything that happens is a huge responsibility, but also something that takes some time to step into and that has been really challenging.
