Every story about me is so heavy and dramatic. That's not how I do life. But that's the impression people have, and that's what keeps getting reiterated. As if I'm still stuck in all the muck of the past. And I am so not.

I think we have become obsessed with beauty and personally I'm really saddened by the way women mutilate their faces today in search of that.

I'm not sad at all about turning 40.

What's hardest for me to swallow is when there is a love story, say, with a really high-profile male star and there's no reason I can't play the part. They say, 'Oh, we love Halle, we just don't want to go black with this part.'

I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again.

I'm not a fanatic about exercising. For me, it's about moderation and balance.

I won't have a traditional marriage; I don't find the value in that anymore. But I am such a hopeless romantic and I really want love and I want a committed relationship, so I am going to reinvent marriage for myself.

Let me tell you something - being thought of as a beautiful woman has spared me nothing in life. No heartache, no trouble. Love has been difficult. Beauty is essentially meaningless and it is always transitory.

If you set out to do something and you give it your all and it doesn't work out, be willing to modify your goal slightly. Have the ability to look in another direction. A small shift could guide you to the real purposes of your life.

If you really want to be competitive in today's market you have to be in movies that make money.

I archive a lot of my clothes and have them wrapped up and in boxes. I call them 'little tombs' and keep them in a storage space... I would never get rid of the dress I wore on the night I won my Oscar. When I die, someone can have it, but not a minute before!

I think I am at my best when my hair is short. It's easier to take care of and more of who I am. Women are conditioned to think we need long hair.

I like Doritos. I'm usually watching 'The Biggest Loser' eating Doritos.

I'm not afraid of portraying anything on-screen.

If you're of multiple races, you have a different challenge, a unique challenge of embracing all of who you are but still finding a way to identify yourself and I think that's often hard for us to do.

The worst thing a man can ever do is kiss me on the first date.

Any time you risk big you often risk losing big. You can win big but you can also lose big, but you have to be willing to take those risks.

Sexuality is part of being a woman, it's part of what empowers us when we're smart enough to know how to use it.