Until my early teens, I lived with my mother in New York, and I spent a lot of time in the company of her friends, mostly artists and designers, such as Andy Warhol, Ross Bleckner and Francesco Clemente, none of whom had kids, so I was like their shared child.

I sometimes clean my ears up to five times a day. Even having buds in the same room makes me want to have a go. When I'm in India, the cheap ones freak me out because I worry they'll drop off inside my ear. In the U.K., I like Johnson's.

Becoming a grandmother has felt like being a mother.

I listen to all sorts of music, but I'm not musically talented. Everyone expects me to be a good singer or musician, but I really am terrible. I'm a great dancer, though.

I wanted to do a show about a family that is absolutely black. Because as Du Bois has shown, we do have to live a double consciousness every day in the world. We have to walk our path and walk the mainstream path, and there's never really been a show that's talked about what that's like.

My kids are really dope. I was just at home in Chicago, and my daughter Brittany was interviewing me. It was like I was on 'Oprah.'

I love my mother. My mother made sure, her stubbornness - she made sure we was going to eat. She made sure we had Christmases. That was my mother. My father wasn't there for that.

I always had a thing - just take care of family.