I believe in the philosophy of turning the other cheek.

My father was a great admirer of music and the arts, so there was always a lot of culture in the house. As it happened, while my father was the ambassador in Portugal, the ambassador's residence had a piano, and so I started learning how to play it at the age of five.

For me, everybody is the same. If you are not nice to me, I will say, 'Okay, we will try to make it nice tomorrow.' I am like that. I am not a confrontational person.

I am glad that my weight never affected my singing career, but other than this, I faced a lot problems: like, I was unable to talk for 20 minutes after coming down from the stage after my shows. I got very tired because of my fatness.

I tried to keep it secret, but the story got into the newspapers. It was more difficult for my family, who couldn't understand why the media wouldn't leave me in peace.

I always felt that if countries knew each other better, there would be less war. Often, conflict goes with demonizing other countries and cultures.

It's not going to be easy to create a world where both sides prefer peace, but we have to try.

Strangely enough, the legend of John Brown, who was clearly crazy, helped the abolitionist cause and is thought to have precipitated the American Civil War.