I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.

I don't carry myself as a black person but as a woman that belongs to everybody. After all, it's the general public that made me - not any one particular group. So I don't think of myself as belonging to any particular group and never have.

I don't wear my political feelings on my sleeve. However, if I'm asked, I will answer honestly.

The public has become my fairy godmother.

There were nine children in my father's family and eight in my mother's. My grandparents did the best with what they had. After the Depression, they were scratching out a living and working hard. They kept the family going.

When people ask me where I'm from, I say I'm from the Sudan. But when they ask what my hometown is, I say London. It's where I lived, and it's where my whole family lived.

My parents, especially my mother, were no influence on me whatsoever.

I think a lot about when times were simpler, when I was still dancing and living with my parents. I really miss living at home sometimes. I get really sad.