Conflict happens. People aren't happy all of the time.

I had all kinds of fantasies, like a lot of girls, but did I actually go through the motions of planning a wedding and buying bridal magazines and imagining things and setting up who would play what role? No. Because as I grew up, I started to believe that I would be one of those gals that never got married.

I actually gained a lot of weight when I started to do 'Grey's Anatomy.' Doing eight theater shows a week, girl, is such a workout. But with TV, you're, like, sitting in your trailer waiting to go to the set. And there's catering and craft service every place you look.

In all kinds of ways, I used to be really, really hard on myself.

Michael Jackson has some contact with his mother. I know she is involved with the children.

I was forced to lie to my father by doctors and relatives. I made that choice and agreed with them, and I will never, ever get over it. If I hear a lie in my life with my children, with my wife, my work, my audiences, I want to annihilate myself, vaporize myself, and wipe myself off the face of the earth.

Not surprisingly, my parents' generation did everything they could to make life easier for their own children. Was that good for us? I wonder. It certainly didn't do us any good from a cultural point of view. I'm struck by how few boomers have embraced adult culture in middle age.

My father's passing comes with sorrow and grief for me, for my mother, for my brothers, and for my sisters. He was a great fire who burned bright, and we lived in his light and warmth for so very long.