My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa even though everyone else did because we didn't have any money because Africa was the 'dark continent' and because I was a girl.

There's a sort of sibling moratorium when you're establishing yourself as an adult. So much of your energy has to be focused on other things like work and kids. But when people become more settled siblings tend to regroup because now you're building a new extended family.

Touring is tough. You're almost in a haze because you don't really know where you are half the time: You're in a hotel room one moment and the next thing you know you're onstage performing for 60 000 people then you're back on an airplane. It's very hectic and I couldn't do it without my family.

On the one hand the idea of marriage and the sort of traditional family life repulses me. But on the other hand I long for it you know what I mean? I'm constantly in conflict with things. And it is because of my past and my upbringing and the journey that I've been on.

My family can always tell when I'm well into a novel because the meals get very crummy.

It has to be real and I think a lot of the problems we have as a society is because we don't acknowledge that family is important and it has to be people who are present you know and mothers and fathers both are not present enough with children.

I was lucky. My family is wonderful. And it's funny because most of my best friends come from very large families. So it always felt as if I had lots of siblings though in the end I had to leave them and go home. I kind of got the best of both worlds as a kid.

My family truly believes they are better cooks than I am. They see me as Giada not as a celebrity chef. To them I'm just me - their granddaughter niece etc. and they're older and wiser. I like that because it keeps you grounded.

Because I didn't have brothers I was always interested in the kids down the street that had four brothers in their family so I became one of them - but it was not my family.

If I'm diagnosed with cancer I might become despondent but someone young might not and they might need connections with somebody outside their circle of family because their family is so despondent.

The countries who do the best in international comparisons whether it's Finland or Japan Denmark or Singapore do well because they have professional teachers who are respected and they also have family and community which support learning.

I grew up in a family where the internalized understanding was that the kids were going to grow up into a better world. I worry because I don't think my kids are going to have that. The world is very scary. The world would be scary without the choices the current administration made but they just exacerbated it. And it ticks me off. I want my kids to have a good life.

My rule is whatever you were calling me four years ago is what you should be calling me now because I don't like it when my family or close friends call me Nicki Minaj. To me I'm not Nicki Minaj when I'm with them.

It's a little known fact that one in three family pets gets lost during its lifetime and approximately 9 million pets enter shelters each year. That's why it's a wonderful thing to get your pet microchipped and registered with your contact information because then they can be located and the owners can track where their pets are.

I text a lot people because it's how I stay connected with all my family and friends when I'm on set and traveling.

At this time when I turn 50 because so there's many of my friends and family who didn't get to see 50-years-old and so I'm celebrating for them too.

From very early on in my childhood - four five years old - I felt alien to the human race. I felt very comfortable with thinking I was from another planet because I felt disconnected - I was very tall and skinny and I didn't look like anybody else I didn't even look like any member of my family.

I'm not asking that people accept homosexuality. I'm not asking that they believe like I do that it's inborn. I'm not asking that. All I'm saying is don't let these children suffer without a family because of your bias.

This character feels so much like my brother. He has two children. He has a wife. He works with me. He chooses to stay in New Hampshire because he wants his kids to grow up in the school they started with. He doesn't want them to lose friends. He is his family's hero.

During the periods in my marriage when I chose to stay home with my kids rather than work as an attorney it caused me no end of anxiety. Despite the fact that I knew I was contributing to our family by caring for our children I still felt that my worth was less because I wasn't earning.

The secret is to make sure your family comes before anything else because no matter what you do you've got to come home.

I think it's been a little difficult at times for the audience because they've told me they see me as a family member. So to see your little sister sing about sex... I think they are pretty used to it now.

Well I have a CBE and I accepted it with glee because it's not bestowed on you by the royal family it's not bestowed on you by the government you have to be nominated by the public.

I for one am quite willing to join the 'forgive forget and move on' crowd but it does make me wonder if Evangelicals are going to sound believable when they say that they tend to vote Republican because of their religious commitments to the family.