Monday, August 13, 2007

Top 25 Notable Celebrity Quotes

Most celebrities are not known for their intellectual prowess, but they have provided words that wowed us, from insight or sheer audacity. The USA TODAY People staff picks some stunning sound bites from stars over the past 25 years.

USA TODAY reporting and writing by William Keck, Karen Thomas, Donna Freydkin, Andrea Mandell, Ann Oldenburg, Lorena Blas, Robyn Abzug and Susan O'Brian.

1 "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."

Princess Diana, in a 1995 BBC interview, on her marriage to Prince Charles. They divorced in 1996, and she died a year later. The third party, Camilla Parker Bowles, became Charles’ wife in 2005.


Louis Goldman, Handout

2 "I’m tough. I’m ambitious. And I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, OK.”

Madonna in People, July 27, 1992. It was a big year for her, with the movie A League of Their Own, her Sex book and her Erotica album.

3 “Why can’t you share your bed? The most loving thing to do is to share your bed with someone.”

Michael Jackson, defending his practice of letting boys share his bed in a Feb. 3, 2003, interview with BBC/Granada’s Martin Bashir. The interview led to molestation charges; Jackson was acquitted in June 2005.


Douglas Pizar, AP

4 “I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you ... I bid you a very heartfelt goodnight.”

Johnny Carson, saying his final goodbye on The Tonight Show, May 22, 1992. The late-night legend died in January 2005.

5 “Well, I can wear heels now.”

Nicole Kidman to David Letterman on Aug. 2, 2001, after her split from Tom Cruise. Both have since remarried, he to actress Katie Holmes, and she to country singer Keith Urban.


Eric Draper, AP

6 “In the end, you have to come clean and say, ‘I did something dishonorable, shabby and goatish.’.”

Hugh Grant to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, July 10, 1995, explaining his June arrest for lewd behavior with a Los Angeles prostitute. Grant pleaded no contest. Girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley stuck by him, but they split five years later. They remain friends.

7 “This town is a back-stabbing, scum-sucking, small-minded town, but thanks for the money.”

Roseanne Barr, in an ad she took out in The Hollywood Reporter for the magazine’s 60th anniversary in October 1990, two years after her sitcom Roseanne launched. The show ran until ’97.

8 “I never wanted to be the lesbian actress. I never wanted to be the spokesperson for the gay community. Ever. I did it for my own truth.”

Ellen DeGeneres in Time magazine, April 14, 1997, just before her Ellen sitcom character came out as gay, too.


Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

9 “This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It’s for the women that stand beside me ... And it’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”

Halle Berry, at the 2002 Oscars, in her best-actress acceptance for Monster’s Ball. She’s the first black woman to win the category.


Michel Euler, AP

10 “The heart wants what it wants. There’s no logic to those things. You meet someone and you fall in love and that’s that.”

Woody Allen in Time in 1992, about his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, the daughter of former girlfriend Mia Farrow. Allen and Previn wed in ’97. The age gap: 35 years.

11 “Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Let’s get that straight. OK? We don’t do crack. We don’t do that. Crack is whack.”

Whitney Houston in 2002 on ABC’s Primetime. Houston has since been through rehab several times, and last year split from husband Bobby Brown. She has been working on a new album.


AP file

12 “Retire? I’m going to stay in show business until I’m the only one left.”

George Burns, at his 90th birthday tribute, George Burns 90th Birthday Special, taped Jan. 11, 1986. He died 10 years later.

13 “I’m too much of an erratic moody baby! I don’t have the passion anymore, and so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away.”

Kurt Cobain’s suicide note from April 5, 1994. The lead singer of Nirvana was 27.


Virginia Sherwood, NBC via AP

14 “Psychiatry is a pseudoscience. ... You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do. ... Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, you don’t even — you’re glib. You don’t even know what Ritalin is.”

Tom Cruise to Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today, June 24, 2005, one of several uninhibited expressions from the actor that summer.

15 “For an actor, there is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can’t part with you, which is why I won’t exclude you from this stage in my life.”

Charlton Heston on Aug. 9, 2002, revealing he has Alzheimers. Heston has not made a TV or film appearance since 2003.


Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

16 “I’m in shock. And I’m so in love with my brother right now.”

Angelina Jolie, thanking brother James Haven while accepting the supporting actress Oscar for 1999’s Girl, Interrupted. Since then she has become Brad Pitt’s companion and an upstanding citizen of the world.

John Zich, USA TODAY

17 “I am sorry if anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime of the Super Bowl. It was not intentional and is regrettable.”

Justin Timberlake, in a statement after the 2004 Super Bowl spectacle with Janet Jackson. His career is booming, hers has faltered.


Rose M. Prouser, AFP/Getty

18 “And if they want to hear that I’m dead, sorry, folks. I’m not. And I don’t plan on it.”

Elizabeth Taylor on Larry King Live, May 30, 2006, responding to rumors she was dying. She turned 75 in February.

19 “What are you looking at, sugar-tits?”

Mel Gibson, to female deputy last summer after being pulled over for speeding and drunken driving.


Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY

20 “That’s hot.”

Paris Hilton’s trademark, dating back at least to the first season of The Simple Life in 2003. She eventually had the expression copyrighted.

21 The jury “was not my class of people. There was not a producer, a press agent, a director, an actor.”

Zsa Zsa Gabor to People in October 1989, after a jury found her guilty of slapping a Beverly Hills cop.

22 “I just want one day off when I can go swimming and eat ice cream and look at rainbows.”

Mariah Carey on MTV’s TRL in 2001, before entering rehab for exhaustion. Glitter bombed that fall, but in 2005 she put out a Grammy-winning hit album.


Paul Moseley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram via AP

23 “The virginity issue. There are so many emotions involved that I would like to be able to wait until I know I’m with the right person and I’m married.”

Britney Spears in a 2002 interview with Britain’s Daily Star. She’s now 25, has married twice, split up twice (one annulment, one divorce) and has two kids.

24 “These people are not parenting. They are buying things for their kids — $500 sneakers for what? And won’t spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.”

Bill Cosby, addressing a Washington, D.C., crowd in 2004.

25 “You only lie to two people in your life, your girlfriend and the police. Everybody else you tell the truth to.”

Jack Nicholson in the April 1994 issue of Vanity Fair. He’s now 70, and no doubt it’s still his motto.

Source: Compiled and written by William Keck, Karen Thomas, Donna Freydkin, Andrea Mandell, Ann Oldenburg, Lorena Blas, Robyn Abzug and Susan O’Brian. Photo research by Kevin Eans, USA TODAY.

0 comments: