I don't think you ever think that you have made it but I did take a look at myself one day and think back to when I was a little girl and it was nice to know that I had at least made it this far.
I was so dorky up until I was about 14 or 15 and started to get a little bit cooler, but I was a socks and sandals girl. I would wear big frilly socks with sandals and all the kids would tease me.
I wish somebody would have told me, 'Don't try too hard,' because when I was younger I wanted to try really hard. I wanted to please everybody and be this perfect, polite little girl.
I went to a predominantly white school, and I was the only black girl. I can remember thinking, 'I don't want to be as dark as I am - I want to be a little fairer.' I didn't want to be me.
In week one of the 'X Factor,' just to be a little bit quirky, I decided to say that I like girls who eat carrots. Ever since I've had lots and lots and lots of carrots.
It's like with a girl: it's more fun to meet and slowly, gradually learn things about each other. A little mystery is always nice and it's interesting to still learn new things about someone you are involved with.
There's a misconception that maybe I'm overly confident or a little vapid or that I am a stereotypical, bratty, spoiled girl who doesn't have much to bring to the table other than how people perceive her physically.
Ever since I was a little girl, I loved to make things. I always made dresses for my Barbie dolls. When I was 13, I designed my Bat Mitzvah dress.
I always think of young Hollywood as its own little high school. There are the girls who have been working for a while that are kind of like the Queen Bees and the new kids at 'school' just starting out.
I liken myself to a little girl having a tea party at the house all of the time. I actually dress up more in my home than I do walking down the street just because it is so much fun to play dress up.
I don't really relate to myself as The Girl in the Magazine. Which is dangerous for me, too, sometimes, because I don't think all the time, 'Well, look to see if people are following me home.' Sometimes I'm a little bit more free than maybe I should ...
I'm sort of obsessed with Harlem. Just its history. My father did the music for a play called 'The Huey P. Newton Story,' and they did a lot of work in Harlem. So as a little girl, I spent a lot of time in Harlem Library.
I was just a little girl watching TV and wanting to be in it. My parents had no idea how to get me there, but here I am as a part of this great cast on the Disney Channel. Truly, if you just want to do this, then you have to commit to it.
I'm just concerned that if I get older, people aren't going to enjoy me as much as when I was younger, because I had a great voice for a little girl, but I mean, my voice can't get any bigger when I'm older.
Most people compliment me on maintaining my femininity while I'm on the court. People like the fact that I model. My fans or little girls always say they want to play sports, but also want to be a model like me and I think that's great.
I think it's important for little girls growing up, and young women, to have one in every walk of life. So from that point of view, I'm proud to be a role model!
I personally always find something really scary about watching little girls learning to manipulate their dads by baby talking. Then they grow up and use the same technique on their boyfriends or husbands. That scares me because it's just so sick on s...
It's a story of little girls who are pressed into working in sweat shops in games, who spend all day doing repetitive grinding tasks like making shirts, which are then converted into gold and sold on eBay.
I don't want to treat my little girl like she's made out of glass or wrap her in bubble wrap or anything! And I also don't want to be constantly correcting her or warning her. Or my least favorite, reprimanding her.
When I see a rosebush smiling at me, I see a sweet little girl telling me, "I love you daddy".
I never like to put myself in the stories; in 'Lost in the City,' there are fourteen stories, and there's only one, 'The First Day,' about a little girl going to school, that has anything to do with me.
