The whole idea is you can't sit around and do nothing. You have to get up and start living one day at a time. That's what I did my entire career. You can't sit around and say, 'Oh, poor me. Nobody likes me. Nobody is giving me a job.' You have to get up and go. If you sit at home and do nothing, that is what is going to happen.

My father was a Pentecostal minister; that's how I was brought up. So I never thought of having a secular career.

Nobody put the camera on the background singers who were singing. It was on Stevie Wonder. It was on Elton John. It was on whoever was the lead singer out front. We were 20 feet from stardom.

You just have to find a lawyer that won't let you sign certain things - and I mean the fine print, because I was gone from Phil Spector and signed with Gamble and Huff in Philadelphia, and Phil bought my record contract back from them.

I started thinking about joy. Everything in our society is so purposeful. Let's bring joy back to the experience.

In the room, when I'm playing SpongeBob, I'm optimistic and I'm happy, and I smile in the face of those who are upset in order to make them happier. You know, there's this overwhelming optimism. And I've been lucky enough to have that become a part of my life. I like to think that it's influenced me.

Coutinho is a joy to watch.

As an actress, the joy of being able to play the three sides of any woman, which are the glamour, the pragmatic and the one not to be messed with, is pretty glorious.