Quotes

[on accepting her role in the sitcom Jesse (1998)] This was a major commitment. I really had to sit and think about it. I eventually came to the conclusion that it came into my life for a reason.

There are a lot of sacrifices a mother makes when she's raising a child by herself. I saw it when I was growing up, watching all my mother did for me. But it wasn't until recently that I fully understood the price she paid because of how we had to struggle.

The person who I have my child with is going to be the right person. I don't want to raise a child by myself. I could do it. But I definitely don't want to. I want to be a mother who has the original father there. And I want to be with that person until I'm 80 years old, sitting out on the porch with our glasses of lemonade, laughing about our lives.

[on her sitcom Married... with Children (1987)] The show definitely shocked and disgusted people. But privately, they enjoyed laughing at it. I think all too often people look at the perfect families on television and think, "Why can't my family be like that?" In the case of "Married with Children", people were able to say, "Thank God my family's not like that!"

I've always been shy and sort of vulnerable. My mom says that when she would drop me off at school, I'd stand back and check out the situation--see if it was safe before I'd join the other kids.

[on how she coped with being a television star in her teens] I wasn't one to go out and buy a new car and stereo system and expensive clothes. My mom helped keep me grounded.

[on her husband, actor Johnathon Schaech (they've since divorced)] We're best friends. And that spark is always there. I can't wait to see him, even though I saw him a few hours ago.

I started doing radio commercials for K-mart when I was four. They had to splice all my consonants together because I couldn't talk very well. But these jobs helped my mother and me put food on the table. It took the two of us working.

It was not easy for my mother, being a struggling actress and raising a child. We were these two sort of vagabonds, never knowing where the money was going to come from. She always says she couldn't afford a babysitter, which is why she put me on the stage.

[on having quit school] It's one of those choices that I can honestly say was a big mistake. I wish I had a better knowledge of history and the other things I could've learned. Of course, nothing is stopping me from learning now. In fact, I'm probably better prepared.

Every single kid in my group of friends at school was from a single-parent family.

[on her work in the 2004 Broadway production of "Sweet Charity"] The work is really intense. I think working 16 hours a day is harder, but really [I think] my whole soul changed doing that year of Broadway. Your audience every night belongs to you. It's different. You control everything. It's just a beautiful, beautiful thing.

[on her mastectomy] I'm going to have two cute boobs 'til I'm 90, so there's that. I'll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I'll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table.

[on Christopher Pettiet] I was really close with Christopher, which is really sad for me every time I think about that. He was a really special, special young man. Dark and twisty inside, which I gravitate towards. I loved him. I really did. It's the saddest thing that could ever happen. God rest his soul.