Ashley Judd

I was always told I was special. And I was also assured that I had a gift and a purpose.

No, I don't tolerate pressure from anyone about anything.

Well, the fact is that one imagination is critically important, and if you have had your imagination stimulated by what is basically a variety of subjects, you are much more amenable to accepting, to understanding and interacting with the realities of the world.

People say that to me and I think what unites all my characters is that they are hurt; it's most accurate to say I play characters that are hurt but are responding to their environment.

More often than what you're suggesting, I find people are surprised that I have an urban side to me.

And it blew my mind when I started to get wind of the fact that they actually liked me being around. That was humbling, because Kentucky basketball is a big deal, and I am not the biggest fan - I am just the most notorious one.

I've always been crazy for the American songbook.

I've been devoted to Alison Krauss for many, many years.

I can't think of anything I want and need that I don't already have but at the same time, I'm not sated.

It's funny, though, because when I first started going to races after we met, I was extremely nervous. It's like being backstage and hoping you don't trip over something or break an amp or accidentally speak into a live microphone, so I was really hesitant.

I have a lot of variety within me, and the dream role, I think, is actually a compilation of parts that express different aspects of my persona and personal interests.

Everything I've done has been personally fun, important, and meaningful to me.

Tough girls come from New York. Sweet girls, they're from Georgia. But us Kentucky girls, we have fire and ice in our blood. We can ride horses, be a debutante, throw left hooks, and drink with the boys, all the while making sweet tea, darlin'. And if we have an opinion, you know you're gonna hear it.

Getting married is an incredible act of hopefulness.

I think that being perceptive and having interests is nothing but an asset.

I have a responsibility to nurture and shepherd my talent and when I'm living the parts of my life not related to that I feel I have the right to be left alone.

When I accept a role, I feel that as an artist I have to submit completely to the tutelage of my director. And while I expect to be heard and encouraged and honored, at the end of the day, man, it's the way the director wants it.

Both my husband and I give a lot of ourselves in what we do because that is our public lives; but in my private life, I have an intrinsic right to be left alone.

You don't stay married for 35 years by accident. I think that that's willful and intentional and something that both people really want.

Some Kentucky fans are a little more subdued.

It's up to us to take pop culture back and to express quality and dignity for both boys and girls.

And of course there's so much music in and around our family. I had a piano during Christmas because it's obviously useful through the season. There are so many people, songwriters, who are around.

Regardless, we are a two career household, and it's Dario's season, and I'm really excited about going racing.

I think that, as with marriage, you just know when it's time to have kids.

Yeah, I've had the privilege to know a lot of really talented people.

I think that we give the impression, to carry on your metaphor, that we go a little faster than we actually do. I'm fairly lazy so I'm always interested in slowing down.

I get lonely when I'm a Playstation widow.

A lot of people over the years have been doing yoga and I think even more these days are expressing an interest in it. So there are a lot of manifestations of spirituality here in town.

Ruby in Paradise and the intensity and quality that I was able to experience on Smoke were equally as important to me as working on this movie every day for three-and-a-half months.

When I was working on Eye of the Beholder, I played a character who is so aloof that my whole lifestyle became very aloof. If someone knocked on my door, there was a part of me that went into a rage, because I wanted to be isolated and alone.

Abstinence, being faithful and correct and consistent condom use are the only ways to successfully reach everyone when discussing HIV prevention. I believe that the abstinence message alone does not solve the AIDS epidemic.

I did a lot of hiking and I loved it.

I think it's easy for me to connect to some people, and I don't know if that's the same thing as falling in love whereas before, I might have said it was.