The roughest road often leads to the top.

I got along better with the guys than with the girls. Only two girls came up to talk to me. Later I found out they were telling their boyfriends, 'If you talk to her, I'll kill you.' It's always rough with that high school thing.

My parent's divorce and hard times at school, all those things combined to mold me, to make me grow up quicker. And it gave me the drive to pursue my dreams that I wouldn't necessarily have had otherwise.

I'm not really religious but very spiritual. I give money to this company that manufactures hearing aids on a regular basis. More people should really hear me sing. I have a gift from God.

I love doing normal things - movies, shopping, going out with friends, writing, reading, taking hot bubble baths - that's a big one for relaxation. I also love to go to art and history museums.

Whatever I do, it's my business. It's not my job to parent America.

Pop is actually my least favorite kind of music, because it lacks real depth.

What is it in us that makes us feel the need to keep pretending... we gotta let ourselves be.

I want to be an all round entertainer, I want to act, make films, make albums, do whatever I can.

I always wanted to have my own album released before I graduated from high school.

Right now I'm pretty single... My career is my boyfriend.

I'm experimental by nature... always exploring my creativity.

I'm not just another bimbo.

So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?

It's been quite a roller coaster ride, but I've grown and learned a lot about myself. The greatest thing is being able to interact with fans and touch people's lives... for that I give thanks.

Certain people want to see me solely as a pop act, but there are many different sides to Christina Aguilera besides the pop girl.

I'm a risk taker and I've always been like that, especially when it comes to fashion.

I think everybody should have a great Wonderbra. There's so many ways to enhance them, everybody does it.

The roughest road often leads to the top.

It's definitely a dream come true to be recognized and to be able to sign autographs. But, it's also a lot of hard work and can be draining. If you don't know already, you will quickly learn who your real friends are.

I'm an ocean, because I'm really deep. If you search deep enough you can find rare exotic treasures.

After I had my son, Max, I knew I wanted to get involved in causes that help children.

All I want to do is be normal. But really, it's other people who won't let me be that way.

Basically, what I'm saying is there is nothing fake about what I do. I'm up-front, I'm real, I'm honest and I'm open with my feelings.

Being a mother, singer and actress is a definite juggling act, but I don't think I would be comfortable any other way.

Being too thin. Being bigger. I've been criticized for being on both sides of the scale.

Blues and soul and jazz music has so much pain, so much beauty of raw emotion and passion.

Everybody needs that one person that takes you to the right place to see all the positives in your life.

For me the visual is just as important as the music.

Getting older, you just don't want to sing fluffy.

Growing up with the childhood that I had, I learned to never let a man make me feel helpless, and it also embedded a deep need in me to always stick up for women.

I always wanted to have my own album recorded and released before I graduated high school.

I am Ecuadorian but people felt so safe passing me off as a skinny, blue-eyed white girl.

I am a woman who has my extreme vulnerable side and my baggage - and at times I feel extremely weak.

I definitely love women. They are more attractive to the naked eye.

I didn't want to do something that was easy for me.

I do reinvent old hits of mine and sort of give them a new life.

I don't even watch my own show: I tape it, I'm out.

I don't have anything to hide but what happens is the media tend to beat up what I say.

I don't see anything wrong with being comfortable with my own skin.

I don't think I could ever really be with a woman because that's a lot of... Yeah, there's a lot of estrogen and I'm a lot to deal with when it's that time of the month, so I can't imagine it times two.

I don't think there is such a thing as being too raunchy when it comes to the art form of burlesque.

I don't want to believe my own hype.

I don't want to talk about genies in bottles anymore.

I embraced being a pop artist, but I like doing it on my own terms, at my own pace.

I feel so fortunate.

I feel things deeply.

I felt caged by my childhood.

I hate working out - I have to mentally push myself through it. I can get very whiny, saying things like, 'I can't do it!'