You'll never see an Italian go on a diet.

Everybody in Italy cooks. They have a better knowledge of the kitchen - that's the place around which the whole of Italian society revolves.

When I was eight years old, my mum and dad took me skiing in Valle d'Aosta in northern Italy. I'm not usually a huge fan of snow or cold places, but I loved the fact that we were together as a family.

Every summer I sail to a small island called Cavallo, which lies between Sardinia and Corsica.

I spent a week of my honeymoon on a cruise ship and it was a nightmare. Never again.

Italy is a hot country. Wherever you feel heat, your excitement and passion come out. We're hot-blooded, and where there's passion there's love, but also anger, hunger, excitement.

My wife often goes out with male friends for dinner and I go out with female friends. We have different holidays. We're together six months of the year and when we're together, we're together.

One thing we don't have in Italy is the culture of Chinese, Indian, French and Thai food.

I don't like lakes generally. It's a glorified pond, isn't it? I live by the sea, so for me I need to taste salt. I prefer the mystery, the majesty of the sea.

The best place to go in Italy for a summer holiday is the island of Sardinia.

Always buy dry pasta, not fresh. 90 percent of Italians use dried pasta as it keeps its al dente shape more perfectly when cooked.

People panic in the kitchen and they don't need to. The first thing to do is to open a nice bottle of wine and relax.

Italian wines don't have to be expensive to be good. It is absolutely ridiculous that people feel that have to spend a fortune.

I get asked for cooking tips all the time.

Since I turned 40, my ambition is to spend more time with my family.

There is no way on Earth I'm going to get a call from 'Bake Off!' It is a British institution. People sit down to watch it with a cup of tea. The last thing they want is Gino D'Acampo!

But my wife doesn't often allow me to cook in our kitchen at home. She says that I'm messy and I don't clean up after myself!

I can cook in front of millions of people on TV, I don't care. But cooking for my own family really freaked me out. If they don't like it, they tell you.

A key rule for every cook should be not to buy food when it's out of season because it's expensive and tastes awful.

I never tried to convince my wife to move to Italy. She wouldn't have liked that.

I think every lady wishes their husband would cook.

My mum and dad weren't wealthy people. We used to have pasta every day, meat once a week, fish was once every two weeks, presents only at Christmas and birthday.

We don't do spaghetti and Bolognese sauce together in Italy. That is technically wrong because when you lift up the spaghetti the sauce will just run down. The way to do it is to use pasta like fettuccine or tagliatelle so the sauce sticks to it.

As far as Italian ingredients, I always have one of those plants of fresh basil in the house, and some mozzarella in the fridge.

A lot of food shows are people wanting to become celebrities, rather than encouraging people to cook.

I don't do cookery shows to show off, I do it to encourage people. What's the point in going on TV and doing a recipe that no one can replicate?

With me and Timbaland, we would always be at the studio, but working separately. He would be doing his thing with the beats and I would be doing my thing writing and then we would both come together and say 'OK, you add this to it and I'll add that to it.'

I've stood the test of time, weathered a lot of storms and hurdled a lot of obstacles.

Me and my brothers decided to form a group called T.G.T. - Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank.

I'm game for a lot of things. But I won't disrespect myself in any way.

Once we put 'So Anxious' out, it was a wrap.

If I don't feel it when I'm sitting there, if it doesn't give me the feeling I got when I heard 'Pony' or 'So Anxious' or 'In Those Jeans,' I scrap it.

On every album you can see my growth.

I didn't have my mom or my dad or cousins or anybody to guide me. I was around a whole bunch of wolves... I was just like, 'Lord, just guide me and weed these snakes out of my life.'

A show isn't just a show, a show is entertainment; it's modeling, acting, singing and dancing all ripped into one, with the little time that we have to do it.

Anyone should have the right to say no if they don't want someone to kiss them or touch them or date them or anything.

See, every thing in show business is a lie. It ain't all it's cracked up to be. You are in situations where you are forced to think that you are better than everybody else because of the pedestal the fans place you on. It's a lie. This is just a job, a high-profile job. You have to keep that in perspective and not get caught up in the hype.

That's why I named my album 'The Life,' because it's appreciating life and not taking it for granted and living it day by day.

I'm laid back, I'm genuine, I'm easy to get along with.

I made my statement... I had my foot in the '90s.

Well the first record is something that you just put so much into. And the second record, people always talk about the sophomore jinx and everything, but I was still able to get through it and still focus on what I needed to do and make timeless music.

Pony' was one of the biggest songs of my career. It was really hard to follow that up.

Since Bobby Brown, I was the first one to be in my video taking my shirt off and showing the 6-pack and 8-pack. Other people weren't cut like that.

I remind myself to stay down to earth so I can keep in touch with my audience.

The fatherhood thing is easy - when you're there.

Michael Jackson is the greatest musical influence on me. He's my man. Musically, he is the one artist I want to be like.

A lot of times, men like to keep stuff in and that's the worst thing that you can do.

I write the best songs I can.

When you're doing an album, you need to come up with something new, be creative.

As you grow, you learn and talk about different things.