At a certain point I became really frustrated with modeling, like, why do I have to go home after school and get dressed up and put makeup on my face, and then go to a photographer's studio where there's 15 other girls with their books and have to prove myself? A lot of people don't think of it that way, but modeling's a hard job, physically and emotionally.
My family dynamic is quite eccentric. I have two fathers. I think it depends on the relationship between the child and the parents, but definitely, when it comes to being a stepparent or a coparent, it's a different relationship. There's just as much love, but the bonds can be different. It depends when you come into their life and how well you know them - this dynamic takes a lot of patience and love.
People are way too hard on themselves. Comparing yourself to other people can be damaging; the most important thing is just to be you and to try to engage with your child. If you're constantly working, so you don't have that much time to spend with them, but you have 20 minutes at the end of the day to read them their favourite book, children will remember that.
I got my first part in Silent Fall, 1994 - I guess I was 15 or 16 - which was really outrageous because I still knew nothing. I don't think I really learned how to land on my marks until after Empire Records in 1995, 'cause sometimes I'll see a shot in that film, and I'm like "Whoa, I just walked over to the corner."
I was really blown away and inspired by everything that she [Audrey Hepburn] had done for children via and through UNICEF and I guess it really, really floored me in a way that I hadn't ever felt toward a public figure before. To see her kindness was inspiring and spoke to me as a person. She was so real and so elegant..I am also inspired by what Angelina Jolie is doing by traveling to places like Cambodia to help children by actually being there and being more involved.
Children are all unique, so when you're blending families it's really important to get to know each individual child... Being a stepparent can be a really incredible opportunity. Sometimes children pay attention and listen to someone who's not their blood parent. Sometimes I notice how my son Milo learns things from my best friends and people that have been around him, his grandparents and so on, in a way he can't from his own mum and dad. It takes a village!
I've sung my whole life. I've taken lots of voice lessons and I love to sing. But I've never really sung professionally at all.
~[My son] is at that age now where he's so loving and says the sweetest things to me. Of course, I still get karate chops and all those other sort of things, too.~
I think it's healthy for couples to be away from each other for short periods.
Oh, my God, this amazing cool breeze is coming through my window and the sun is shining. I'm happy.
Working with Bernardo Bertolucci, director of Stealing Beauty was my first experience of being able to communicate with someone whom I'd think of as a mentor, who'd ask me my opinion and trust me, and believe in me and allow me to do the things that I wanted to do. The film itself was also rare in terms of character most of the scripts I've read are the story of some man, and there might be a love interest or a big woman's part.
I laughed at the whole Cannes Film Festival thing because it didn't feel real. I remember getting off the red-eye when I arrived in France. I had a cowboy had on and some zit medicine, and there were like 15 photographers who jumped over the luggage carousel to take pictures of me.
I just remember saying to myself that I'd much rather do movies than modeling, and that it was worth a try. I didn't really know anything about it. I hadn't seen many movies, or so-called, good movies. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Star Wars and Night of the Living Dead. When I got more curious about the movies, I thought they were something you had to learn about and go to school for and read every book.
I love my dad, although I'm definitely critical of him sometimes, like when his pants are too tight. But I love him so much and I try to be really supportive of him.
I was always a little bit chubbier than everyone else. But I would feel pain for some of the other girls, who were so young and felt they had to be so skinny. They'd be living in the model apartments, totally wrapped up in this whole world. And it made me more sad than anything.
I was on Stealing Beauty in 1996 and then I started feeling acting was something I wanted to do forever. It made me feel like I'll still be looking for parts when I'm 70 years old.
I feel so blessed that I have a job where I can spend long periods of time with my family. Most moms don't have that choice. But wearing so many hats - mother, wife, actress - does take hard work; you always have to be thinking about your family's best interests.
I've seen beautiful and profound change and growth in men who are becoming fathers. Women get to carry the baby, so you might get a little head start on them, but watching a man get to know the little person, seeing that bond evolve and seeing the difference in the relationship between fathers and their sons and daughters, is fascinating.
There are many important elements to being a parent. A lot of people don't have fathers but they might have someone in their life who's a good male influence and support. There's no cookie-cutter way of raising children and no family is the same, but the most important thing is that children are loved, supported and cared for, whether it's coming from a relative or a friend or a grandfather or a good school teacher. Anyone. Children just need good examples and mentoring to teach them and show them how to do things.
The realities of getting up in the morning with two children and being covered in spit-up and totally filthy make me excited to imagine clothes that aren't made for baby puke. Dressing nicely is a dream now.
Casey Affleck is a really good friend of mine. I know Casey a lot better than I know Ben, even though Ben and I have worked together a lot.
My diary is a disaster...I can't spell at all...I'll spell the same word completely differently in the same sentence.
I cried on my 18th birthday. I thought 17 was such a nice age. You're young enough to get away with things, but you're old enough, too.
I don't think a lot of really good films get seen.
I just think it's really funny and entertaining. I mean, I don't necessarily take them really seriously - I don't even think a lot of really good films get seen. But I don't think that's what it's about. I mean, how amazing was Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream ? Especially as she was acting with herself most of the time. I don't understand how a performance like that can't win. I was so affected by that movie that I had to turn it off. I felt as if I was on drugs and my heart was about to leap out of my body.
