You know I looked at my face in the mirror this morning and I like being old. My face has more content and when I train in the gym now I am not training to be strong or handsome - just better than I was yesterday. These days the race is just against myself.

I've looked at pictures that my mom has of me from when I was four years old at the turntable. I'm there reaching up to play the records. I feel like I was bred to do what I do. I've been into music and listening to music and critiquing it my whole life.

I was into opera as a kid - I'd play 'Carmen' and sing and dance. My mom signed me up for a theater group before preschool and I never looked back.

My mom used to tell me stories at night read books to me - and I read 'em over and over and over again. And you know what I learned from that? I went back and looked at everything - Why do I like reading the same stories over and over and over again? What was I some kind of nincompoop? No - the narrative gave me connection with my mom.

No matter what like I couldn't - I could break a world record get an Olympic gold medal and my mom would be like you could have done better. But you looked pretty. That's what she says all the time.

I was brought up as an only child and we were very close. But when I was 14 we got evicted. We came home to a padlock and I looked up at my mom and she was crying and there was nothing to do.

Once in high school I completely over plucked my left eyebrow all the way up to where you're not supposed to. I had no idea what I was doing and it looked terrible! My mom was like 'What did you do to yourself?' I was so embarrassed.

Throughout my life my mom has been the person that I've always looked up to.

People used to say my son looked like a Mexican Biggie. And when he was first born memories of Biggie... you know we didn't always have the greatest days. For at least half the length of our marriage we were separated so everyday was definitely not a good day.

When I first started talking about gay marriage most people in the gay community looked at me as if I was insane or possibly a fascist reactionary.