I did not grow up in a cosmopolitan environment. I grew up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, pre-Internet, pre-college radio.

I did not grow up in poverty. But I did grow up with a poor boy's sense of longing, in my case not for what my family had never had, but for what we had had and lost.

I did not grow up singing Yiddish.

I did not grow up thinking that I wanted to be an engineer. I had read some articles about girls becoming increasingly scientifically illiterate and that girls lacked confidence in their capabilities when it came to quantitative skills. And I just thought that was kind of wrong.

I did not grow up with a spatula in my hand. I didn't even cook that much in high school. I was busy being a teenager and doing everything that goes along with that.

I did not grow up with people, you know, pounding in my head, 'This is what you've got to do, this is what you're going to do.'

I did not hate God or Christ, but merely the God and Christ of the people whom I hated.

I did not have a big view of many designers until I got to high school.

I did not have a black coat to wear to the Oscars. It was a mandatory dress code, that was the reason I gave it a miss.

I did not have a chance to write novels until my youngest child started school fulltime.

I did not have a father. It was my mom who chose to be alone. She felt that she would be better off by herself with me after I was born.

I did not have a happy family life a few years ago. I was divorced, and I was very alienated from my daughter, and I was out there cutting every ribbon and running around New York hosting events for different causes to supplant my loss because I didn't have a family to go home to. Now I don't want to be Mr. Show Business anymore.

I did not have a lot of spare time after I was about eleven because in my youth, young people used to try to find ways of making money after school. From about age eleven on, I either shined shoes or did something such.

I did not have a mobile phone in 1993. No one did, except the occasional banker or Hollywood star seeming smart, or the main character in 'American Psycho.' In 1993, every day was 'let's get lost.' I could walk Greenwich Village for hours and not be found.

I did not have a normal life. I'd be training when my sister would be at birthday parties and sleepovers. I finished high school by correspondence, basically working two full-time jobs. The last years were very, very tough. But I was willing to do that. It's all about sacrifice.

I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus until I met my nanny, who helped me through a failing marriage and raising my two boys in a New York City apartment. She showed me by example what it was like to be able to talk to Jesus and bring all my cares and worries to Him. That was in 1990.

I did not have a reputation to defend.

I did not have a van, or wear Birkenstocks and tie-dyes.

I did not have a very in-depth knowledge of 'Star Trek'. I'd seen a couple of the vintage episodes. I knew just about as much as anyone on the street.