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My relationships with both my mother and father are good. We spent several difficult years hashing over the problems and the past, and worked out a fairly solid middle ground. I wouldn't say my relationship with either of them - they're no longer together - is exactly typical, but that would be difficult after all we went through.

Mom was the one who taught me unconditional love. With Dad, I'd always felt there was something to live up to - expectations. But in the last year, we had a wonderful relationship.

I had a very difficult relationship with my father, which ended up okay, but there were many difficult years.

My parents had a great marriage. Interestingly, it made it harder for me in relationships because I knew what a good relationship looked like.

I always appreciated that connection between a parent and a kid because I yearned for it so much. Growing up, I wanted a father, and because I've had this idea of what a father should be, it's exciting to finally have the opportunity to try and be that guy, to see if I can actually do it.

We had to make ends meet. My parents were divorced, so my father wasn't really in my life. We grew up like most kids, just wanting things.

I wasn't close to my father, but I wanted to be all my life. He had a funny sense of humor, and he laughed all the time - good and loud, like I do. He was a gay Irish gentleman and very good-looking. And he wanted to be close to me, too, but we never had much time together.

What I am most grateful for is that neither of my fathers pushed the relationship; they just let things develop and didn't impose anything on me. They were both just there, emanating stability in a very unstable situation.

Some people found it difficult to understand my relationship with my father, but that may have been because they couldn't get beyond their relationship with their own parents.