In college, I interned for Diane Sawyer my sophomore summer.
My first album after 'American Idol' I did with Desmond - we paid for it together, and we literally were together working on it every day for a year and half, just writing. We wrote in New York, Nashville, L.A., Sweden - we wrote with some other amazing songwriters like Diane Warren, too.
Oh, Diane Nash deserves her own film. Diane Nash is a freedom fighter who is still alive and kicking. She was one of the leaders of the desegregation of Nashville, basically. She was a student at Fisk University who was one of the founding members of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
There are lots of actresses I consider to be my icons, from Katharine Hepburn and Grace Kelly to Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep.
Ava DuVernay, Sheryl Crow, Diane von Furstenberg, Ashley Graham, Tracy Reese, Pat Benatar, Issa Rae, Betty White - they've all shattered glass ceilings, whether in music, fashion, or film.
Honestly, since the Diane Sawyer piece, every day it's like, it's exciting to go to the mailbox... Because I get letters every day from all of these people from all over the world.
The great photographers of life - like Diane Arbus and Walker Evans and Robert Frank - all must have had some special quality: a personality of nurturing and non-judgment that frees the subjects to reveal their most intimate reality. It really is what makes a great photographer, every bit as much as understanding composition and lighting.
I love being on camera. And I love knowing what's going on in the world. Diane Sawyer is my favorite. She never seems to lower herself to get the job done. She just always carries herself well. I really admire her.
I took a clown class at NYU - that's where I met June Diane Raphael, my writing partner and best friend.
All of my favorite actresses are comedians at heart: Shirley MacLaine and Madeline Kahn, Diane Keaton and Debra Winger. And they are all amazing dramatic actresses, but everything they do is funny.
