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I've Been Working Since I Was 14, And My Father, Being Very Conservative, Has Always Been Strict About My Having A Savings Account.

-Michelle Pfeiffer

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I've Been Working Since

Michelle Pfeiffer

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I've Been Working Since I Was 14, And My Father, Being Very Conservative, Has Always Been Strict About My Having A Savings Account.

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It Never Occurs To Me That I'd Be Intimidating To Anybody. Maybe I Should Consider That.

I Think There Is A Major Difference Between Actors And Actresses. All Of The Men I've Worked With Have Been Really Difficult, Whereas The Women Have Always Been Extremely Cooperative. I Began Thinking About That, And I Think It Comes Down To A Question Of Comfort With Vanity.

Well, I'm Very Stubborn. I Think I Have Common Sense; I'm Probably At Times A Bit Tunnel-visioned, But I'm Strong.

Like All Parents, My Husband And I Just Do The Best We Can, Hold Our Breath And Hope We've Set Aside Enough Money For Our Kid's Therapy.

My Grandmother Raised Five Children During The Depression By Herself. At 50, She Threw Her Sewing Machine Into The Back Of A Pickup Truck And Drove From North Dakota To California. She Was A Real Survivor, So That's My Stock. That's How I Want My Kids To Be Too.

I Have Days When I Just Feel I Look Like A Dog.

Just When You Think You've Got Your Kids Figured Out, They Change On You. For Somebody Who's Controlling, You Can't Control It. Of Course, I Don't Think I'm Controlling, But That's What I've Been Told!

When I Go To Work And When I'm In The Public Eye, I Take Much Better Care Of Myself. Because When I'm Not Working, I Do Indulge More.

I'm Good At Disguising My Feelings.

I Can't Imagine Myself Blowing Up Supermarkets!

I Even Had Breasts That Had Mechanisms That Could Make Them Droop. It Was A Shock In The Beginning. Talk About Special Effects!

I'd Been Taking Singing Lessons And I Had Taken Dance, Because I Loved To Dance, But I Had Never Considered Myself A Professional At All.

I Probably Would Like To Do More Than I Do, Because I Love Working, But I Can't Work More Than I Work Because I Have To Do Some Facetime With The Family, And The Work That I Do Is Just All-encompassing.

One Thing That's Great About Having Kids, Especially Given My Career, Is That It Forces You Out Of Your Narcissism. I Mean, I'm In A Career Where My Product Is Me. So It Was Nice To Have Something, Someone, Come Along And Take The Focus Off Me. I Really Needed To Give Myself Some Distractions From Myself.

Even Though I Don't Feel I Need Approval, It's Still Important To Me To Give A Good Performance. I'm Hard On Myself.

I've Never Met A Person Who Has More Integrity Than My Husband. I Respect That. There's His Humor And Intelligence, Too, And He's Really Cute, All Those Things - But If You Don't Respect Your Partner, You'll Get Sick Of Him.

I Don't Believe Men Want Women To Have Grotesque Plastic Surgery Or Be Undernourished And Bony. All The Plastic Surgery In The World Can't Stop You Getting Older.

You Know, The More You Can Meet People From Different Walks Of Life, The Better It Is For You. I Think The More You Can Create Situations And Experiences That Give You New Perspective, The Better.

I'm Always Amazed At How Consistent People Find Me And My Behavior, When In Fact I Do Feel Different All The Time.

Where I Came From, The Idea Of Going Into Show Business Was Just Ridiculous; In Fact I Didn't Tell Anybody Because I Knew People Would Laugh At Me. So I Sort Of Snuck Around And Got Some Pictures And Got A Resume Together And, Of Course, Lied And Said I Did All Kinds Of Things I Didn't Do.

I've Never Lost My Love For Acting. I Feel Really At Home On The Movie Set. I'm A More Balanced Person Honestly When I'm Working.

I Don't Think It's Easy For Women To Watch Themselves Age. And I Think It's Obviously Doubly Hard To Grow Older When You Are A Public Figure And You Constantly Have To See Your Image All The Time, And People Are Constantly Pointing It Out.

If I Really Want To Do Something, I'll Go In And Do Whatever The Director Feels That He Needs Me To Do.

There Is No Question That The Older You Get, The Fewer Good Roles There Are.

It's Fun To Kick Ass And Show That Other Dark Side Of Yourself As Well.

You've Got Each Other's Back. I Think If Everyone Shows Up With That Attitude, Then Everybody Has A Great Time, And I Think The Work Is Better As Well.

I Relax By Taking My Bicycle Apart And Putting It Back Together Again.

It's Harder To Live The Way I Live. There Are Certain Places I Like To Shop And Eat Where I Simply Don't Go. The Paparazzi Follow You.

I Never Wanted To Have To Take A Job Because I Didn't Have Any Money.

It's Fun To Explore Areas That Are Taboo That You're Not Allowed To In Real Life As An Actor.

You Can't Have A Favourite Meal, Like You Can't Have A Favourite Movie Or A Favourite Book Or A Favourite Child.

You Know What I'd Like To Do? I'd Like To Play A Bag Lady.

I'm Afraid To Be Alone, I'm Afraid Not To Be Alone. I'm Afraid Of What I Am, What I'm Not, What I Might Become, What I Might Never Become. I Don't Want To Stay At My Job For The Rest Of My Life, But I'm Afraid To Leave. And I'm Just Tired, You Know? I'm Just So Tired Of Being Afraid.

I Do Portraits. I Usually Do Live Models In A Class Environment, But I've Been Painting At Home More. I Really Love The Human Form, And I Love Faces. I've Tried To Do Landscapes A Few Times.

I Look Like A Duck. It's The Way My Mouth Curls Up, Or My Nose Tilts Up. I Should Have Played Howard The Duck.

Actually, I Think That Turning 29 Was More Difficult, Because Once I Turned 29, I Anticipated 30 For The Whole Year, So By The Time 30 Came Around It Really Wasn't That Bad.

I've Been Painting Off And On Since I Was In Sixth Grade. I Don't Paint When I'm Acting - I'm Not Really Able To Split My Focus That Way. I Do It Intensely When I'm Doing It, But I'm Reluctant To Take Myself Too Seriously As A Painter Because That Would Mean There Would Be Pressure To Be Better Than I Am.

If You Think Hitting 40 Is Liberating, Wait Until You Hit 50; And I Was Surprised At How Liberating It Was. The Anticipation Of Something Is Always Much Worse Than The Reality.

Being A Parent Is The Hardest Thing In The World... The Psychological Toll It Takes On You Because These Lives Are In Your Hands. I Take It Very Seriously.

It's Simple. Eat Well, Exercise And Get Lots Of Sleep But Make Sure You Indulge Occasionally. At My Age , I Think , What The Hell , And Eat A Krispy Kreme Doughnut !

Love Humiliates You. Hatred Cradles You.

I Do Find Comedy Difficult. I Don't Know Why. Maybe I Think About It Too Much. There's A Tremendous Amount Of Pressure To Be Funny.

I Think All Actors Have A Sadomasochistic Streak, Because Acting Is Kind Of Brutal, You Know.

I Feel Less Pressure To Dress Youthfully. I'm 50 And Everyone Knows I'm 50 - Who Are You Kidding? Jeans Are My Uniform. I Have About 15 Pairs.

I Used To Stay Up Very Late At Night, Much Later Than I Probably Should Have For Such A Youngster, And I Used To Watch Very Old Black-and-white Movies With, You Know, Bette Davis And Joan Crawford, But I Remember Watching Them Thinking 'i Could Do That'... Even Though I Wasn't Inclined At All To Actually Become An Actress. I Mean, That Wasn't Something That Was... In The Stars For Me, No Pun Intended.

Black And White

I Still Look Like A Duck.

I Think That I Am A Compulsive Person, But Now I'm Learning To Put Those Compulsions Into Healthy Things.

What's Interesting Is, There's Always A Lot Of Talk To Young People About Finding Their Passion, Following Their Passion. But I Remember Reading Somewhere That A Lot Of People Don't Have A Passion. And There's This Pressure To Have One. It's Perfectly Fine Not To Have One.

Acting's An Odd Profession For A Young Person; It's So Extreme. You Work, And The Conditions Are Tough And The Process Is So Immersive, And Then It Stops, And Then There's Nothing. So You Have To Find Ways Of Making You Feel Productive When You're Not Actually Producing Anything. For A Young Person, That's Really Challenging.

I've Always Had A Very Extreme Personality, Which Gets Me Into Major Trouble, I'm Always All Or Nothing, And I Don't Know The World "balance." I'm Desperately Trying To Learn It Because I Think As You Get Older It Becomes Very Important.

My Kids Would Probably Say That I'm Too Strict. They Probably Would Say That, And I Try Not To Be, But I'm Probably More On The Conservative End Of That. At The Same Time, I Know Full Well That Ultimately I Don't Really Have Control Over Them.

I Used To Smoke Two Packs A Day And I Just Hate Being A Nonsmoker.... But I Will Never Consider Myself A Nonsmoker Because I Always Find Smokers The Most Interesting People At The Table.

Cigarette Smoke

Most People In The World Have Seen More Of Me On-screen Than My Kids Have.

Ultimately, I Believe The Only Secret To A Happy Marriage Is Choosing The Right Person. Life Is A Series Of Choices, Right?

There's Always An Imbalance With Actors And Actresses In The Industry. And I Think Because There Are Just Fewer Movies Overall Being Made, It's That Trickle Down Effect.

My Father Was Very Strict, But Mostly I Just Didn't Know How To Behave On A Date.

Maybe I Haven't Done Enough Movies, But Haven't Found That Men Are More Difficult Than Women.

My Walk Is Consistently Made Fun Of.

Every Time I Set Up An Interview, I Say, "that's It, This Is My Last One. I'll Do This Because I Committed To Doing It, But I'm Never Doing Another One."

I Say Really Stupid Things Sometimes. When I Go Back And Watch Some Of My Old Interviews From When I Was Younger, I Just Cringe.

And I'm A Really Happy Person, I Enjoy Life. I Think You See That On People. I Think There's Nothing More Aging Than Misery.

I Like Understanding What's Underneath, What's Really Motivating People. When I Was Younger, I Wanted To Be A Psychiatrist, So I Think It Has To Do With That.

There Have Been People In My Life Who Have Told Me I Have To Put Myself Out There More. But It's So Hard For Me To Do That.

Rudeness Is What Gets To Me [when Someone Being Rude To Me In A Supermarket]. Yeah. That One Does Get To Me, I Have To Say.

I Would Speak Up If I See Someone Being Rude To Someone.

You Know, When I Am Working, I Take Really, Really Good Care Of Myself. I Eat Really Well, And I Exercise, And Again, I Have This Team Of People Pulling Me Together Every Day.

Just Standing Around Looking Beautiful Is So Boring.

I Don't Know If It's Naivete Or Just Narcissism, But I Start Out With This Notion That I Can Do Anything. It's Not Until I Get Into It That I Realize What I've Thrown Myself Into, And Then I Will Do Anything Not To Humiliate Myself. And That, I Think, Is The Secret To My Success.

If I Do A Move I Don't Like, I Don't Want To Get So Upset With Myself.

People Who Are Rude To Waiters... I Don't Like That Sort Of Thing. People Who Take Cuts In Line... It Doesn't Fly!

One Of The Things I Love Most About Acting Is Just Disappearing In The Role, As Much As I Can. I Think That's One Of The Things That Intrigued Me About It.

You Can Have It All, But You Can't Do It All.

I'm A Taurus. To The Bone.

I Guess I Do A Really Good Job At Covering.

The Value Of A Good Education Has Never Left Me.

When I First Started Out, I Said To Myself, If This Doesn't Happen There Will Be Something Else That I Can Do. That Seemed Possible Because I Knew How To Do So Many Different Kinds Of Jobs.

I Do Think That, At One Time, Being An Actress Was The Equivalent Almost Of Being A Prostitute. It Garnered Roughly The Same Respect. That's Changed A Lot, Thank Goodness.

Everybody Is Vulnerable To Being In Relationships Where They Get Fooled. I'm No Different. It's Just Human Nature.

I Do Sometimes Feel Like The Paparazzi Are Really What Ran Me Out Of L.a. They're Just Giving Everyone A Bad Name.

I Was Kind Of Surprised To Learn How Controlling I Am. I Never Thought Of Myself In That Way. I Think The Root Of The Control Issues Is Usually Fear, Because You Want To Know What's Going To Be Happening At Any Given Moment.

I Used To Do Drugs In High School. I've Been Living In L.a. For Almost 10 Years, And Shortly After I Arrived I Cleaned Up Pretty Much. Stuff Goes On On The Set, Stuff Goes On At Parties.

I Was Considered The Black Sheep Of The Family, Neighbours Didn't Want Their Kids Playing With Me.

I Like Being Prepared. When Things Are Going On And I Have To Learn My Lines At The Last Minute, I'm Never Quite Secure Enough To Allow It To Be Spontaneous. So The More Prepared I Am, The More I'm Able To Kind Of Let It Go . . .

I Am Basically Very Private, And I'm Really Nervous About Doing Publicity.

I Still Think People Will Find Out That I’m Really Not Very Talented. I’m Really Not Very Good. It’s All Been A Big Sham.

Acting Is Kind Of Brutal.

Men Do Not Take To Vanity, Because They Are Taught At An Early Age That It Is Wrong To Be Vain.

I Liked Getting Up At 4 In The Morning, Driving On The Freeway, And Going In And Stocking Shelves And Laughing With The Stock Clerks.

If You're Working On Something That Isn't Very Demanding, Isn't Very Fulfilling, Then You Have All This Energy To Burn, And You Can Go Crazy.

De Niro Is A Classic Example Of Somebody Who Is Iconic And Who Sort Of Effortlessly Puts Actors At Ease The Moment You Meet Him. I Think It's Also Just Something That He Innately Does With People.

When I Was Very Young I Never Thought I Was Attractive, Because I Was A Tomboy And I Was Always The Biggest Girl In The Class.

I Decided I Needed Something That I Could Feel As Passionate About As Acting, And Something In Which I Could Completely Lose Myself. I Started Painting, And I'm Still Doing It.

When I Wasn't Working I Didn't Know What To Do With Myself And Sort Of Didn't Exist, In A Way, When I Wasn't Working, So I Was Like Two Different People. I Am Not Like That Anymore.

I Said, Going Into Acting, 'i'm Never Moving To L.a.,' Because It Scared Me. But There Was No Way You Could Build An Acting Career In Orange County.

Honestly, Depending On What Stage I'm At In My Life, My Opinion On Plastic Surgery Changes. I've Never Been Against Plastic Surgery - I'm Against Bad Plastic Surgery. I'm Against The Overuse Of Plastic Surgery.

I Find The Less You Focus On Your Flaws, The Better Off You Are. Be Yourself And Be Glad Of Who You Are.

I Don't Really Know What Hollywood Is. I've Never Really Known.

Being From Orange County Is In A Lot Ways Very Much Like Being From The Midwest.

There Are Certain Scenes You Do In A Movie That Are Like Catching A Wave, And You Leave Work Feeling Elated - Almost As Though You've Purged Something. That's Rare, But You Do Live For Those Moments.

I Guess I Sort Of Just Feel Like I Am Lucky.

Somewhere Along The Line I Made The Switch And Was Able To Look At The Bright Side Rather Than The Dark Sida All The Time. Now I Look At Everything I Have And Think How Lucky I Am.

Women Are Brought Up To Think It's Acceptable To Pay Attention To Their Faces. Men Translate Their Discomfort Into Their Behavior.

For Me, Getting Comfortable With Being Famous Was Hard - That Whole Side Of It, The Loss Of Anonymity, The Loss Of Privacy. Giving Up That Part Of Your Life And Not Having Control Of It.

When You're Young And Have A Dream, It's Pretty Simplistic. You Don't Think About Or Have Any Way Of Knowing Everything It Can Be, And Anticipate That.

Knowing Everything

My Favorite Food In The World Is Mexican Food. I'm Not A Dessert Person. I'm More Of A Crunchy, Salty Girl. I Could Live On Chips And Salsa. I Would Take A Mexican Meal Over Some Fancy French Cuisine Anytime.

I Know That I Want To Wait For Something That I Really Feel Great About.

I've Worked With Very Few Actors Who Have Been At All Difficult.

You Have A Choice. It May Not Be A Choice You Like, But It Is Still A Choice.

I Worked So Hard For So Long - I Did A Lot Of Movies. I Also Worked A Lot When My Kids Were Smaller, Before They Were In School.

I'm A Perfectionist, So I Can Drive Myself Mad - And Other People, Too. At The Same Time, I Think That's One Of The Reasons I'm Successful. Because I Really Care About What I Do.

I've Been Working Since I Was 14, And My Father, Being Very Conservative, Has Always Been Strict About My Having A Savings Account.

It Takes Years For Me To Trust; I Know That About Myself. A Lot Of It Is Because I Am So Private, And So Reluctant To Make Myself Vulnerable.

I Act For Free, But I Demand A Huge Salary As Compensation For All The Annoyance Of Being A Public Personality. In That Sense, I Earn Every Dime I Make.

People Make A Lot Of Jokes About The Empty Nest. Let Me Tell You, It Is No Laughing Matter. It Is Really Hard.

I Went To Court-reporting School To Study Stenotyping. After Awhile, Whenever Anybody Spoke, In My Mind My Fingers Would Be Punching It Out. Even Two Years After I Quit, My Mind Still Did That.

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