“People are not depressed in Colombia the same way people are in America.”

I admire Madonna because she always did whatever she felt like doing. She went through some controversial periods when people rejected her, but she kept on reinventing herself.

I came to understand that I’m never going to be the perfect mother, but I’m going to do the best I can. Same goes for everything in my life.

If it was up to me, I would just wear jeans and t-shirts, even to red carpets, but then no one would photograph me, so that would make me very sad. So you know, I’ve gotta keep up with the rest of the female population and sometimes try a little harder.

Relationships have to have a give and take if they’re going to work in the long term.

We’ve built six schools in Colombia and do work in South Africa and Haiti. We teach 5,000 students.

I feel a real sense of duty to use the voice and the platform I’ve been afforded by my fame to speak out for those whose voices don’t get a chance to be heard.

Being raised in a developing country opened my eyes to so much I cannot tolerate. In Colombia, education is sometimes considered a luxury, not a human right. And it’s not a priority in the agendas of many leaders.

I want some day to be able to love with the same intensity and unselfishness that parents love their children with.

My dad used to take them to the notary and register them so that nobody could steal them from me.

We need to provide higher quality and innovative early childhood development programs all throughout Latin America.

I just want to grow old with a man who takes care of me, and I want to eventually have kids and want them to be good children to me. Just want to be treated nice and have respect.

I do feel that I have to use my voice for those that don’t have one. I have to do the best I can in my own work to represent my culture, represent the women of my country, of Latin America. What we stand for. What we’re made of.

Because of you, I’m running out of reasons to cry.

My songs are the reflection of how I think and how I feel in that moment. But I’m conscious of the fact that artists have a responsibility before the masses and they have to take care with their words.

I wish that one of my children will be like the Australian guy from the Discovery Channel show. The crocodile hunter.

It’s very difficult to think that you’re with someone that you know, and all of a sudden you don’t know them: it turns out that they betray you. It’s painful, but it’s best to turn the page.