I was going to go to Europe to study, and that's when my mother's disease heightened, and it was really necessary that I step in. Then I said, okay, this is more important than my career in music.

I knew she was famous, but she was my mom, a regular mom.

Frank Sinatra was a popular star, but he was always so sweet and friendly to me that I was excited just to be next to him.

I came to New York after Bennington College and trained as a singer. I lived on the West Side and I went to my voice lessons. That was a wonderful part of my life and I really thought that I could go somewhere with my voice.

It was a wonderful experience to play in the NFL, and I have no regrets. I truly will miss playing for the Lions. I consider the Lions' players, coaches, staff, management and fans my family. I leave on good terms with everyone in the organization.

Prayer doesn't work because someone out there is listening, it works because someone in here is listening. I've paid attention. I've pictured what I want to happen in my life. I've meditated extensively on my family, my future, my past actions and what did and didn't work for me about them.

Since I was very young, probably two or three, I had really good memorization skills. I would memorize stuff from TV and perform it for my family. I was the little performer for most of my early life. So eventually, my mom caught onto that and thought I might want to get into acting.

I'm lucky in that I have close friends and family and my agent to advise me.