When I realized I was having trouble reading I was too embarrassed to ask for help. Some teachers believed in me but I just wasn't focused on school - I was into the music and trying to please my dad.

I wasn't sure how my dad would react. There was an agent sitting behind them and he told me he was embarrassed to watch the scenes. My parents have always been very open. They trust my decisions.

I started playing ball when I was a kid. My dad was a pro ball player and he passed on his knowledge to me.

The last thing I want my child to see is Dad running around in the middle of the pack. That would really upset me. And that would upset him. I would be embarrassed to take him to school with kids saying 'Hey how'd your dad do this weekend?' 'Well he finished fifth or sixth'.

When my father died in my arms it had such a profound affect on me that at that very moment when my dad passed I realized that I needed to face my own fears.

When dad told me Mr Steptoe had passed away I broke down.

I was born in 1968 just eighteen months after my sister Chrisse and just one year after Dad passed the bar exam.

My sisters have been baptized and my dad is a deacon at his church now. Sadly my mother passed away but what I can say is that the Jehovah Witnesses took very good care of her up until she died.

I was always embarrassed because my dad wore a suit and my mother wore flat pumps and a cozy jumper while my friends' parents were punks or hippies.

I like to think my dad was easygoing and kind and I think some of those things have been passed down. I am like him in a sense of being positive and hopeful. He was compassionate and I've got a lot of that in me as well.