My dad left when I was a little boy and I grew up with my mother's family. There were foundations in the U.S. where Jewish people got together and sent money to Cuba, so we got some of that. We were a...

A princely mind will undo a private family.

There's nobody in the arts in my family. It was kind of embarrassing to even say that I wanted to be an actor.

What I miss is being close to nature - collecting your own water and generating your own electricity, catching your own food. I still dream of doing that with my own family, even if it's just for a...

Songwriting really kicked in with the guitar. I was going through a lot as a kid. There had been a lot of transitions in my family. So it just became a total therapy, like most artists.

It was really important for me to understand that I needed to provide for myself, and I needed to become a provider for my own family, too.

My dad's a very shrewd, clever guy.

My mom, she's the greatest.

I wasn't born to a wealthy or powerful family - mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx.

I know who my dad is, I've met him a few times, but I don't even call him dad. I know it sounds horrible, but I don't even see him as part of my family, to be honest. If you want the truth, it doesn't...

My dad used to draw these great cartoon figures. His dream was being a cartoonist, but he never achieved it, and it kind of broke my heart. I think part of my interest in art had to do with his...

Ah, my dad's whistle. On holidays when I was a kid, we would all be off in the rock pools along the beach. When it came time to go, we'd hear the whistle and we'd all come running. Like dogs!

To me, one of the big silver linings of the Simpson trial is the advances we've made in understanding domestic violence as a lethal problem. Before that trial, I think there was a widespread sense...

My sister's journal was the romantic one with boys, and mine was talking about my rock tumbler. We were so different and so similar.

I am very lucky. I have known wonderful romantic love in my life but to actually see this little creature and find him to be the most beautiful creature in the world. I know all mothers and fathers...

I came from a broken home, so my mom was a major influence in my life.

My mom's one of 13 siblings, and they all got six kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton.

We had very few things. I had a couple pairs of jeans, a couple shirts. And same with my mom and sister. I think my sister had, like, two toys. We were living off of instant noodles.

Marriage is a school itself. Also, having children. Becoming a father changed my whole life. It taught me as if by revelation.

Thanksgiving was always a favorite holiday for me. The preparation was fun! My grandma and I would walk to the butcher on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, order the bird, and buy all the fixings at the...

I've pretty much always been on a diet since I was born. And the women in my family struggle, so I find the less I think about food, in a way, the happier I am. In general, I think I eat less the less...

My mother had abandoned the family, so grandmother raised me. And she was instrumental in that she taught me that the world is a glorious place. She taught me to embrace humanity. And she'd say...

I remember my mom bought me one of their shirts for Easter so that I could wear Helmut Lang for Easter. That was my first piece.

I always knew that food and wine were vital, with my mother being Italian and a good cook.

A 'good' family, it seems, is one that used to be better.

My family was my guide to my reality.

In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth.

The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have.

One's family is the most important thing in life. I look at it this way: One of these days I'll be over in a hospital somewhere with four walls around me. And the only people who'll be with me will be...

What must it be like for a little boy to read that daddy never loved mummy?