My mom and dad taught me nothing but ABCs.

My mom and dad did something special when they made me.

Me and my dad are kind of distant since my mom and him separated.

My mom raised me on her own, so I decided to take her name 'cause she was my mom and my dad.

I bugged my mom and dad to 'get me inside the television set' when I was about four years old.

It's always been a dream of mine to get somewhere and to have my mom and dad with me up there.

When my first semester grades came out, my mom and dad told me I wouldn't be playing football.

My dad named me Dakota and my mom came up with my first name Hannah. So it's Hannah Dakota Fanning.

Dad told me that before I was born, he would put my mom's stomach up to the speaker and play Led Zeppelin.

My mom and dad always taught acting, so instead of getting me babysitters, they would just bring me to class.

First and foremost, it's my mom and dad who gave me the foundation, the belief in me that I could do anything.

For me, it's always been to be on your toes about everything no matter what you do - my mom and dad always stressed that to me.

I'm just looking at how my dad's treating me and how my mom's treating me, and my mom has kind of backstabbed me a couple times.

My mom always liked the idea of us acting - me and my sister - like, one of us trying it. But my dad always thought it was a joke.

My mom went through civil rights; my dad went through civil rights. My name was Kenya because they wanted to give me an African name.

My Mom and Dad always told me to not act on emotion, act on what is real. When you're mad don't do something wrong because you're mad.

My mom and dad used to tell me, 'You've got to see this film,' and they were influential to a high degree of the films I saw as a kid.

Listen, my dad left me, my mom is crazy, I'm from L.A., a pop star dumped me three times and I'm an actress who gets rejected constantly.

My Mom and Dad, I saw them struggling in their lives for me and my brother Ankur Tiwari. They struggled so that we could enjoy our lives.

My dad always believed in me. He was always kind of, 'All right, buddy, if that's what you want to do...' My mom was always more of a realist.

My mom is from Cuba, my dad is from Spain, and I grew up in Miami. So there's maybe a little more flair in me than typical Silicon Valley types.

I probably have an earlier curfew than anyone. My mom wants to keep me really safe and my dad's not overly protective, but he's a dad no matter what.

My real name is Alfonso. My grandfather and dad are also Alfonso, so I was the third. So my mom just gave me the nickname Trey because I was the third.

My mom loved road trips, and sometimes we'd drive down to North Carolina. Though my parents were separated, she wanted me to stay connected with my dad.

My mom raised me with the idea of doing public service, and I definitely want to go in that direction. But I also want to follow in my dad's entrepreneurial footsteps.

They couldn't wait to get me out. My dad found my place, my mom helped me pack, and my brother was making architectural plans for my bedroom. It was just what you do at 18.

I don't know if I found soccer or if soccer found me. Especially because when I was younger, I was doing it, in a lot of ways, because I wanted the attention of my mom and dad.

My dad, being a jingle writer, and my mom, being a jingle singer, they hooked me up with some people when I was a kid that worked with children's jingle singing groups. I used to sing jingles as a kid.

When I speak at events, I often wear my dad's ties and my mom's earrings. It's a small, almost secret way of having them with me when I'm up there onstage, talking to a roomful of strangers. It makes me feel safe.

After school, my mom would pick me up and I would just go to visit my dad in the recording studio, and I would see him working with Mark Hamill or hear him doing the 'Transformers' or a 'G.I. Joe' or the 'Rugrats.'

Being a Sikh meant having to do what Mom and Dad said, and going to temple, and Mom and Dad choosing who I would marry. But going to an American school taught me that I was the one who's supposed to make those choices.

My dad was always in sales. My mom had a heart for the ages. Worked in recreation, doing rehabilitation in nursing homes. Very nice, practical folks who were very proud of me but had no inclination toward the stage in any way.

When I moved out, my mom and dad came to help me get settled into my apartment - a place I ultimately got hooked up with in Coach Nelson's building. We had to figure out how to get all my shoes over here. That was a little stressful.

My dad's father would take me to WWE shows when I was younger, and my other grandfather, my mom's dad, would watch wrestling with me at the house. They just really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, they both passed away before I signed with WWE.

It was hard to write about my dad for the first book because I know how sensitive he is. I knew he wasn't going to take it as well as my mom, who can kind of roll with the punches and is used to having me tell her everything she has done wrong as a parent.

All the kids in school taunted me, 'Your dad's going to jail,' and I believed my parents when they said no it wouldn't happen. Then one day I was driving into school with him, which was weird because my mom always took us. And he was like, 'yeah, I'm going to jail.'

My dad was the one who really loved basketball, and he was the one that put the basketball in my hands, and my mom was 'Team Mom' of all my teams. I used to play for three or four teams at once and she would just spend her entire afternoon driving me from practice to practice to practice.

The greatest thing I could say about my son, and this is what you always worry about with your kids, that they kinda outgrow their Mom and Dad. But for him, when I see him, when he calls me Dad, and he can still hug me, he's still like my little boy. Even around his friends, he still calls me Dad.

Something a lot of people don't know about me is I sucked my thumb until I was in like eighth grade. It's cause, when I was a baby, I sucked my thumb and I guess my mom and dad never weaned me off of that, because they thought it was cute. And then it's like an addiction. That's your security blanket.

The house was big enough for my brother and me to have firecracker wars at one end and leave Mom and Dad undisturbed at the other. When firecrackers weren't available, we attacked each other with pennies and marbles and clumps of Crisco, which made brilliant greasy asterisks when you missed and hit the wall.

As I got older, my mother taught me to remember that your connection with people is based on what you're allowing them to touch about you, which was the opposite of what you get as a military kid, because dad's in a uniform. He's official; you don't poke that. But with mom, you do: Always question authority.

The center stone on my ring is the diamond from my mom's original engagement ring. My parents have been married 25 years! My dad bought her a new ring a while back, so she kept her original diamond to pass down to me or my sister someday. It is so special having an heirloom ring because I will get to pass it down one day, too.

My dad and mom divorced when I was around ten, and I didn't live with him after that, though he was close by and we saw each other weekly. I wasn't really aware that he was a writer; I didn't start reading his writing until I was about fifteen. It occurred to me then that my dad was kind of special; he's still one of my favorite writers.

Share This Page