For me the visual is just as important as the music. I would never record without my red lipstick. It was my way of getting into character, sort of like Method singing.

I'm an ocean, because I'm really deep. If you search deep enough you can find rare exotic treasures.

So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?

The female body is something that's so beautiful. I wish women would be proud of their bodies and not diss other women for being proud of theirs.

You can never be too perfect, too thin, too curvy. I'm very confident and happy with my body.

I am Ecuadorian but people felt so safe passing me off as a skinny, blue-eyed white girl.

I don't think there is such a thing as being too raunchy when it comes to the art form of burlesque.

There was no way in hell I was going to jeopardize my baby for my show.

Blues and soul and jazz music has so much pain, so much beauty of raw emotion and passion.

I love theatrics and have a huge imagination: Why would I want to sit onstage and sing a bunch of ballads back-to-back?

I remember watching the Grammys and looking at the performances and crying to my mom, saying how much I wanted to be there.

Meditation is hard. You are constantly trying to focus on one thing, usually your breath, and your mind is going to go berserk.

If you like trekking, go to the Himalayas or Peru. I love those kinds of trips. But it all depends on your own life and what you like and what you expect.

But look, you did not have to be well versed in politics to know that some stupid things were going on. It is the counsel's job to stop them, and instead the coverup was created.

In mindfulness, breath can not play as not only reference point but point of view.

Hany Abu-Assad was sitting next to me, and his film 'Paradise Now' had won the Golden Globe. He said to me at the Globes, 'Paradise now, talk to you later.' [laughs] I gave him a big hug for that.

A Jack Russell terrier? My god. He'll burn you up. They never stop. A German shepherd, you can only go so many miles.

The ideal Government of all reflective men, from Aristotle onward, is one which lets the individual alone - one which barely escapes being no government at all.

A person is only complete when she has a true friend to understand her, to share all her passions and sorrows with, and to stand by her throughout her life.

To invite others to live with us is a sign that we aren't afraid, that we have a treasure of truth and of peace to share.

The relationship between Britain and the US is fantastically important when confronting terrorism.