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When my father died, I was 21, and he'd been sick for a few years. He changed during his illness. He kind of softened during it.

My father was unwell when I was 11, had a stroke at 14 and died when I was 18. My mother going to work at seven in the morning and coming back to look after him and me and my brother left its mark on me.

My dad died when I was 15 and worked way too much.

I was 19 when my father died from a heart attack. He was a 55-year-old college professor and had led what was by all appearances a risk-free life. But he was overweight, and heart disease runs in our family.

When I was 14, my mother died. My father, who had always had ulcers, came apart. He had a series of intestinal operations, and was in the hospital for nearly a year. So the four of us teenagers lived by ourselves in the apartment without a guardian.

When I was very young, my father had an accident. He fell down a flight of stairs, fractured his skull, and lost sight in one eye.

My father was a small-town banker. He became very ill when I was 10 years old, and we went to California three years later in an attempt to recover his health, which never happened.

My entire youth was spent with an incredibly ill parent... I don't think you can grow up that way and not be marked by that experience.

My dad died when he was 60. I was only 17 and I think, psychologically, that had a huge impact on me, probably more than I realised.