Andie MacDowell

“I am committed to ovarian cancer research on a national level and in my community in the Carolinas. It is important to me to know the women that are true fighters of this difficult disease.”

“In modeling, because you're the center of attention, it builds up people's egos. Sometimes people lose touch with reality. But that happens with acting, too.”

“I don't know that anyone comes from a truly functional family.”

“I remember early on, in my very, very early days, I had a makeup artist tell me that I needed to get an attitude. I had no idea what he was talking about.”

“Here's the thing with the business, is that when people like your work, and you make them money, you're set. When the critics like you, and you make the studios money, doors opened.”

“I love learning, and I think that curiosity is a wonderful gift.”

“My favourite thing is to be somebody else, no longer be me.”

“I play games on-set at work. Sometimes I can't remember people's names, so I start throwing out clues. Like if I can't think of George Clooney, I'll say, 'You know, drop-dead gorgeous, was on a big TV show... ' Until someone says his name, I can't finish my story!”

“When you are authentic, you create a certain energy... people want to be around you because you are unique.”

“I've worked with producers who have told me to lose weight, and I'm not overweight, but they want you to look strange, anorexic, horrible. It's odd. It's like they are exerting a power over women, that they want them to look really frail.”

“I'm an artist, but, as I get older, I really want to do philanthropic work and help people.”

“Divorce is horrible. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I don't think it's anything that's ever completely resolved.”

“There is a comfortable feeling in small towns. It is salubrious.”

“Some women are naturally thin. But there needs to be an appreciation for a variety of types of women because we don't all come in one package. We're not pre-destined to all be a size six.”

“With all that's going on in our lives and the world, reducing stress is important, and it's a factor in heart health.”

“I realize that I'm in the top one percent of the world. I've traveled a lot. I've seen immense poverty in the world, and I can't live with everything I've had and be comfortable with everything I have unless I do something for the rest of the world.”

“I'm always reading several books at the same time, depending on how deeply engrossed in it I am, if it's fiction and if it captures me.”

“Kindness can come from someone on Twitter, it can come from someone on the street, it can come from someone at work. Without kindness, I don't know what I would do. The greatest part of life is the simple things.”

“When my mother had four girls, and she could tell her marriage was falling apart, she went back to college and got her degree in music and education.”

“I lived in Paris when I was 20 and 21, and actually knew people that worked for the government there, that talked about terrorism in the country 20 years ago.”