Every morning when I wake up, I listen to 'The Brian Lehrer Show' on WNYC.
Mom was a school teacher, and she had to be at work at 7:30 every morning. So Dad was in charge of us three kids around the breakfast table. He always made it creative: he did the bananas with the smiley face and the eyes with peanut butter on top, made us drink grapefruit every morning even though we had to do it holding our noses.
I may have a very visible job that allows more than a million viewers to invite me and my fellow anchors into their homes every morning, but that doesn't make me famous, nor does my job entitle me to any kind of special privileges.
I started in local news in South Carolina, so viewers there supported me. We had a morning show that we put to No. 1, and then I moved to San Antonio, Texas, and we became the No. 1 morning show there, too.
I had to do a lot of preparation for 'Kaaka Muttai.' I had to literally spend every night and morning in the slums, observing the life of people there, and work on my diction.
So many people grew up in the church, and you can have an awesome upbringing, but I made a personal conviction; I made a personal decision when I was very young. I enjoy going to church without my parents. On Sunday mornings, I want to go. Bible studies on Wednesdays... I have a relationship - not just through my parents.
I exercise six days a week for one hour in the morning.
You pray for things and accept the blessings when they come, you know? And it is about how you talk to yourself and what you say morning, noon and night about what you want to happen in your life. Some folks call that creative visualization. Other people call it prayer. But it is about that message that you send out there to yourself.
The band and I really enjoy working for people who enjoy the music. I haven't made a bazillion dollars doing this. I do it because I love it. I did it for free and will do it for free in the morning.
It's never really that much fun for me to do movies anyway, because you - you know, you have to get up very early in the morning and you have to go in and you spend a lot of time waiting around.
