When I turned 50, I asked some of my girlfriends, all actresses of the same age, 'What are we going to do now?' I wanted to GO live somewhere for a while, learn archaeology, or take PART in HEALING the WORLD on some level. I wanted to dig deep and SAY, 'Who am I now? What do I have to offer? What do I have to learn?'

Who am I to sit here and SAY I'm GOING to change the FACE of MUSIC?

In New YORK I was ALWAYS so scared of saying that I WROTE fiction. It just seemed like, 'Who am I to dare to do that THING here? The epicenter of publishing and writers?' I FOUND all that very intimidating and avoided writing as a response.

For a while, I THOUGHT a LOT about lineage. Where do I BELONG? Who am I STANDING NEXT to?

When you start to find balance, then you start to ASK more IMPORTANT QUESTIONS, like, 'Who am I really?' That's when you start seeing that every single person around you is a HUMAN being just doing the best that they can.

There's an IDENTITY thing that GOES on where you spend so much time CARING for your CHILD that, after a YEAR or so, you have to shake it off and go, 'Who am I?'

I lost myself in the PROCESS and I REALIZED how MUCH I had identified myself with Maria Shriver, newswoman. When that was gone, I had to really SIT back and go, 'Well, actually, who am I today?'