As you grow, you stretch. You become more, and you have more to give if you've lived and learned and experienced. And I try to stay healthy. I eat as healthy as I can. I drink lots of water, and I work out just about every day of my life.

My friends were dropping like flies, and the government wasn't doing anything. You don't watch an entire generation take water hoses and dogs on the front line during the '60s or watch another generation perish from AIDS and then get to drive around in big cars and do nothing.

I wrote a show - just as a joke, actually - and called it 'Bipolar, Bath, & Beyond,' just to bring some humor to it. I wasn't saying to myself that I'll 'come out' with it - I didn't think there was anything to 'come out' with - I was just writing another one-woman show about my life.

I think my performance in 'What's Love Got to Do With It' was powerful. I was so unafraid and confident. You know, it was the first mother of black Hollywood. I was Tina Turner's mama. That's what started it all. I had fallen in love right before that movie, and I had absolutely no fear in me.

I never gave up. I never quit. I've been a leader all my life, from elementary school to president of my class to excelling at college. I had a dream, and my dream sustained me. I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way. I was like a meteorite. I wanted to become a star. It's been quite a journey.

Pay attention to your friends; pay attention to that cousin that jumps up on the picnic table at the family reunion and goes a little too 'nutty,' you know what I mean? Pay attention to that aunt that's down in the basement that never comes upstairs. We have to pay attention to our friends, pay attention to your family, and offer a hand.

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