It has taken me most of my adult life to come to terms with who I am. To do that, I had to break free of attitudes that brought me down.

I can be an emotional eater.

I am not a religious person, but I am spiritual. But I don't believe in things like guilt.

I think people really connect with the idea of someone who's gained and lost weight in this very public way, and also someone who's an emotional eater.

My concepts are never bright ideas; they're never notions I think will sell or be trendy or attract new fans. I don't think that way. All I can do is sing from my life.

You get used to working with one choreographer. You kind of get stuck in that vein and you work your way out of it, picking up someone else's style, their flavor. It takes a bit of time.

I've never been into what am I going to do next, trying to reinvent myself.

Ever since I was little, I loved to eat. I started eating when I wasn't hungry. My weight has always been up and down.

If I wasn't singing, I'd probably be, probably an accountant.

I've never been one for keeping a journal, so my songs were my journals. They allowed me to express my feelings and let people know what was going on with me. I knew that somebody would relate.

Touring is very grueling. It's very taxing on the body and living out of your suitcase, going from city to city, night after night. It's a tough job.

There are artists, true performers that have come before me who have been a big inspiration to me. I hope I do the same for others.

Food has always brought me comfort and the bingeing is triggered when I'm in a space that is not positive.

People tend to put entertainers on pedestals. We're human beings, just like you. You may see us smiling, and whether we have money or not, we still have bills to pay, we still have our stresses. I think a lot of people want to focus on others' shortcomings to make themselves feel better. And it's a very sad thing.

My first crush was Barry Manilow. He performed on TV and I taped it. When no one was around I'd kiss the screen.

That's a part of me going back to what I used to do.

When I'm feeling down on myself or not feeling good about who I am, or maybe something happened and I'm feeling depressed, I eat to fill that void. Afterwards I'll beat myself up about it. I regret doing it, but I'll turn around and do it again.

We all have the need to feel special.

Another side to me is this very sexual being. When I look back on my life, it's always been there. It's been there since I was 10 years old, having the imagination that I had.

By age seven, I used to comb my hair for performances, just pull my hair up into a bun. Granted, it wasn't a very intricate hairstyle. Still, to be that responsible and disciplined at age seven is unusual.

My brothers were gone on tour a lot, and I would miss them so much.

You can tell someone who doesn't have love in their life, then someone who is in love.

No word is absolutely wrong or dirty or insulting. It all depends upon context and intention.

There is a moment when you get older when your metabolism slows down and you don't feel like working out any more, so you don't want to keep yourself fit any more, but that's your decision. Why should you be judged for it?

I like to collaborate on my music. The creative process is fun, and you get a lot of ideas from having discussions about it. Ultimately, the final decision is mine.

I was two when we left Indiana, and I don't really remember it that well.

I was a very quiet kid. A really sweet kid, I might add.

I get so much energy from the fans.

To have someone to relate to and hopefully enjoy the music and get a positive message out of it, to make the best music that we possibly could, those were the goals.

I have a pretty bad temper. But you have to really push me to see it. But everybody has their things.

I'm no expert. I have no psychic powers, and I sure don't possess any secret wisdom. I'm just Janet. I have strengths, weaknesses, fears, happiness, sadness. I experience joy and I experience pain. I'm highly emotional. I'm very vulnerable.

You get yourself up for it somehow, and your endurance and the crowd gets you up, too.

I think it's been a little difficult at times for the audience, because they've told me they see me as a family member. So to see your little sister sing about sex... I think they are pretty used to it now.

There are people that regardless of what it is, if it's something that's stressful, whatever it may be, they don't eat, they lose a lot of weight, a divorce, they get real thin. I'm the opposite.

As a child, I had to get up early for school or work. I'd get ready by myself. I'd set my alarm to wake me up very early in the morning, and be off to work, the family driver driving me every morning. I did it alone, my parents never coming in to wake me up.

I'm flattered that other artists consider me a role model.

I always write my music based on what is going on in my life at the time.

You can't hold the record forever, and I know that. I'm not stupid.

I like myself a lot more than I used to. I had a very difficult time in my twenties especially. It was hard for me to look in the mirror and find something that I liked about myself.

All those songs reflect all the people that live within me.

I kinda see everyone as competition. I'm a very competitive person. But I think that's good. Competition is great. And as long as it's friendly and not a malicious thing, then I think it's cool.

Big sisters and brothers... I am telling you, it never changes.

I had a pretty sexual imagination for a kid.

I truly felt that was going to be my last tour. So here we are again and I'm saying this will probably be my last tour. That's truly the way I'm looking at it.

I wanted to talk about my life. There is so much. I was 18 when I made the record, and I had a lot to say.

I've talked about sex a great deal in my music for a great while now. I feel very comfortable with it.

It was the Control album that was really about what I wanted to do.

There's other things I'd like to do. I probably won't tour for a very, very long time. It's something that you feel inside and that's the way I've been looking at everything.

I think it's great if a guy has a good sized package.

I'm just trying to get used to living on a fixed income. Now, it's going to get unfixed.