LEANN RIMES
“I grew up having to care what people think; it was part of my job. I’ve been built up and torn down, built up and torn down. It’s been difficult to tune people out, especially in the last few years. Now I’m starting to care more about me and not what everybody else thinks.” People Magazine
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
“Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s a stepping stone to success. If our primary goal is to be approved of, then we are not going to take risks, we are not going to speak out, we are going to try to blend in.” The Conversation
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE on being different and inclusion
“Growing up in school no one ever called me anything close to an innovator. They called me different, they called me weird, they called me a couple other words I can’t say on TV. Thankfully my mother taught me that being different was a good thing…that being different meant you could actually make a difference.”
“I wrote this song [Can’t Stop The Feeling] because I wanted it to be about inclusion, about being together. If you are black or you are brown or you are gay or you are lesbian or you are trans — or maybe you’re just a sissy singing boy from Tennessee. Anyone that is treating you unkindly, it is only because they are afraid or they have been taught to be afraid of how important you are because being different means you make the difference. So f— ’em.” I Heart Radio Awards Ceremony
ANSEL ELGORT
“I went through a lot of bullying in middle school and it made me so upset all the time. I hated my life. I hated everything. I live in New York City in a high building with a little terrace. I’d go on the terrace and I’d look off the terrace and I literally just thought about jumping off because I hated living so much. It does make it so hard when your that age and everyone is being mean to you at school and you have to go to school every day and deal with people being mean to you. You feel like what you have to say isn’t important and that you’re not important. The way that I coped with it was making another group of friends outside of that group of people who were mean to me so that I had some sort of support system. Then I focused all my energy on acting and dancing and singing and music so that I felt like I had a purpose that sort of took me out of it and made me forget about it a little bit and it made it a lot better.” BystanderRevolution.org
SIMON COWELL
“Every single negative can lead to a positive. Any negative situation …don’t get too down about it – you’ll work it out. You learn it as you go along. You don’t get smart at 17. You just don’t unless you’re one of a billion. It will happen over time and it’s the getting there which will be the most fun.” Master Class/OWN TV
KATY PERRY
“I’ve realized that it’s time for me to show my audience that you don’t have to be perfect to achieve your dreams.
I’m okay with having bad dance moves. I’m okay with having horrible lower teeth.
That’s what makes me me, and for some reason it’s worked out all right. Parade Magazine
LUCY HALE
“I was the one small brunette among tall blondes. You only get one body, might as well love it. Nothing is the end of the world. Flash forward a year and [ask], ‘Is this really going to be that big of a deal?’ In the long run, it’s really not.” GL
PORTIA DE ROSSI
“If your self-esteem really does depend on how you look you’re always going to be insecure. There’s no way you can get around it because you are going to age. Even if you get that perfect body you’re going to get older and older and older. You can’t avoid it. So you have to somehow, at some point, take control and shift the focus and decide that who you are, what you can contribute to the world, what you do and say, is so much more important than how you look.” The Conversation
CHRISTINA AGUILERA
“You can never be too perfect, too thin, to curvy. I’m very confident and happy with
my body.” US Magazine
“It’s important to recognize your own self-destructive behavior and be honest about it.
You’re only hurting yourself or losing out on your truth and happiness. I’m not afraid to face
my own personal stuff. It’s so important to dig it up and figure it out and move on.” Cosmo Girl
“I like my body when I have curves. We all come indifferent shapes and sizes, and this is
something to celebrate.” Parade Magazine
PETER FACINELLI
“I was so shy. Instead of waiting in line with the other kids at lunch, I’d go to a corner and buy a pretzel and orange juice. I think I had that for lunch the first three years of high school” Redbook Magazine