Melissa Etheridge

“Bruce has always been so nice to me, which is crazy, because he's one of my heroes. I'll never forget being at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony the year Bruce and Paul McCartney were inducted. We were at the bar, and Bruce was talking to Paul, and he turned to me and said, 'I can't believe I'm talking to Paul McCartney!' I thought, 'I can't believe I'm talking to Bruce Springsteen, who's talking to Paul McCartney!”

“I have always loved Broadway.”

“When I grew up, there were no songs about gay people.”

“I think being a parent is knowing how to love. Sometimes love is discipline, sometimes it's humor, sometimes it's listening.”

“Laughing is a medicine. It releases this amazing stuff.”

“I have a very strong opinions about health and our responsibility to our own health, and I will always say what I feel.”

“I kind of thought when I was 30 that you're as good as your going to get. And that's not true.”

“Once I overcame breast cancer, I wasn't afraid of anything anymore.”

“People ask me, 'Is being a parent the be-all, end-all?' And I say, 'Oh, it definitely is up to the person, and it is difficult, it can be very difficult, and it can be extremely healing.' That's what I have found, that the children are mirrors. Everyone is a mirror, but children especially because they're day and night and all day long.”

“Realizing I was gay was a long sort of waking up.”

“My belief is that cancer comes from inside you and so much of it has to do with the environment of your body. It's the stress that will turn that gene on or not.”

“Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.”

“The songs are inspired by my experiences. Sometimes they are more than my real-life and, conversely, my life is more than just my songs.”

“I have days when I say, 'I'm going to have five chocolate chip cookies today.' I'll have a salad every day but every week I have a cheat day.”

“When you grow up in one town and your life revolves around it, you are very aware of any darkness on the edge of town. That's because it's scary and it's inviting.”

“Don't let anyone tell you that you have to be a certain way. Be unique. Be what you feel.”

“The subject and the reality of having children came at the height of my career.”

“I can be a rock star with a television show and still have a self-esteem problem. So it's nice to have your dad go, 'Hey Melissa, I'm proud of you - you're doing good.'”

“I'm so close to Heaven, this Hell cannot be mine.”

“There will always be someone else with a different view than you. I appreciate them and would never say that they are wrong. I hope that they would give me that courtesy also.”