My problem is that people have been writing books about me.A lot of things that people write about you are incorrect, but you don't fight about it.
All of a sudden I feel more womanly, I feel like I got a figure. I was always really straight up and down, the skinny one in the middle, like that poster at Elaine's of the Supremes at Lincoln Center - it was done by Joe Eula. To me that's really a reflection of the way I was. I was just like a bean pole. Now I'm getting a few curves and I like it.
I've never been damaged or hurt by press. It's just that I think it's unfair to use your name in media.
I'm really lucky, I have my performing career so I can continue to do personal appearances. Most actors have to do a film. But I thought I would wait until I found something I really liked.A lot of my friends feel that I'm wrong to wait. They say I should have done My Bodyguard, but I don't think so. I think I've been right.
I spend too much money on my sets and my gowns. I think the presentation is important. I don't think people want to see the old show all the time.
If I do an interview, then I take full responsibility. I figure I'm not going to talk to anyone that I think is unethical anyway.
For some reason, my main movie, Lady Sings the Blues, to me really isn't me. I really can let go of Diana Ross when I see the movie. I'm really objective when I'm watching it. I liked that movie so much. That movie was like magic so that when I'm looking at it I'm really not seeing myself, I'm seeing the actress. I'm seeing another person, not the me of me.
I really don't think that Detroit was any different than New York of Boston or Philadelphia. Kids always wanted to listen to music outside because that's where they hung out with their friends.
I have such memories; I keep thinking about all the people I worked with. I was in the recording studio and I was talking to one of the engineers who is 24 and they don't know these people. They just absolutely don't know the people and it just tickles me. I don't feel like I've grown up.
What's important for me is to give my daughters a well-rounded education and a mixture of people in their lives. They'll make their own choices. I think they would be good in show business.
All my gowns have trains on them. I make a train that goes on forever. I love long trains and then I stand there and twirl around and wrap myself up in it.
I listen to most everything that's out there because I need to stay aware of what's happening in the industry.
I don't think getting in and out of a limousine has anything to do with being an icon.
I try to choose the songs that really are basically coming from my heart. I think that through the songs that I select, people know what's going on in my life.
It has always been, and still is, my intention to build a playground in Central Park.
