on fame: \"what i have is very benign, very sweet. often it goes straight over my head. there are only two really tough times to be recognized: one is when you're waiting for your luggage in the airport, and the other is when you are standing in line for the ladies'. then you're a captive and you either give up your place in line or you pretend that you don't want your luggage after all. and then the embarrassment of my scruffy luggage when it does come out.'\" \n

\nsexuality and power: \"i'm still trying to wriggle out from under that label. sexuality for girls is so complex and tricky. i was never beautiful, but as a young woman, beautiful or not is sort of irrelevant. being a sexual object is mortifying and irritating, yet it's giving you power-an awful power that you've done nothing to deserve, a powerless power. i think some young women fall in love with that power, and it's really objectifying. and when it starts falling away, it's an incredible relief.\" \n

\nher opinion on americans: \"i think americans are a little parochial, a little naïve. naïveté can be a good thing as well, all that innocence and idealism, not like those cynical europeans: 'oh, it'll never work!' but sometimes americans show a terrible cruelty toward their own people, like what happened post-katrina, in the wealthiest country in the world. which is extraordinary to me.\" \n

\non aging and still working: \"i've never been worried about getting older, but i do recognize that i've been incredibly lucky. i've been able to keep working and working, how cool is that? i'm still here, and i'm surging ahead at the moment. but that happened because i've always thought of myself as constantly learning.\" \n

\non experience and getting older: \"when you're 16, you think 28 is so old! and then you get to 28 and it's fabulous. you think, then, what about 42? ugh! and then 42 is great. as you reach each age, you gain the understanding and experience you need to deal with it and enjoy it.\" \n

\nconfessing about her \"russian moments\" of darkness and depression: \"...when the world looks horrible or it's boring, it doesn't grab you. we all go through that. i'm not permanently positive; i'm not some ghastly cheerful person.\" \n

\nplaying the queen: \"[women in my mother's generation] had a real sense of discipline and a willingness to sacrifice to create a better world. that was my delight and my pleasure in playing the queen. elizabeth was the iconic figure for that generation and embraced those values-duty, selflessness-very deeply. that's why she could never understand diana.\"