“I pefer an ugly truth to a pretty lie. If someone is telling me the truth that is when I will give my heart.”

Videos come definitely after the music has been created, but I have always felt, and especially today, that videos are vital in the album process. I think that we live in a very visual era, and if you make a mistake with a video, those images will accompany the song forever.

I was a real mummy’s girl – still am. And as for my father, well, I have an Oedipus complex I’m still working out. I love that man!

I never made it to the school choir because the music teacher didn’t like my voice.

Education is the only way forward in Latin America and developing countries in general.

I’d love to go to that World Cup – I’m not sure in what capacity, but I’ll definitely be there. I know that nobody wants to miss it, least of all me.

I now talk to different cultures, and I hope that I can bridge those gaps and differences between us. It’s an adventure, a dream…

Becoming a mom forced me to re-prioritize and make room for the things that are most important, while recognizing that there are things I can let go of, and the world won’t crumble around me.

I’m a multi-faceted woman and person, like all women are – there’s no black and white. We have shades of grey in the middle. And even many more colours that other people don’t see!

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.

They asked me when I was out there, ‘Why do you want to be traded?’ I said me staying here is like divorcing my wife and marrying someone who looks like me. That’s backwards, man.

Leave something for someone but dont leave someone for something.

When you put someone down all the time, eventually they stop listening to the sensible stuff.

You try to do something every single day that will help an American or maybe someone overseas.

It is vital that each sister have visiting teachers,to convey a sense that she is needed, that someone loves and thinks about her. But equally important is the way the visiting teacher is able to grow in charity.

To wish undone something you have done, to wish you could look back on kindness to someone you love, instead of on unkindness – that is a very terrible thing.

I often call my current work pornographic – when I don’t, I can always be sure someone else will.

How could one create life with someone who represented death?