I've never wanted to get adjusted to my income, because I knew I wanted to go back to public service. And in comparison to what my mother earns and how I was raised, it's not modest at all. I have no right to complain.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
You shouldn't get to live in society and give nothing back. People complain about their taxes, yet they do nothing for the community. That makes me furious.
I don't think I'm really in a situation to complain, because I consider myself to be privileged to be doing what I do.
As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in.
I was raised in a family dedicated to public service.
My mother and father had so many ups and downs and stayed with each other and helped each other. My mother took in ironing and she was a waitress. My father was working in the factory and he did people's tax returns.
I never felt entitled to anything. I'm the hardest worker I know.
My dad worked three jobs and was a teacher. My mother was a teacher's aid, making, like, $3 an hour. My father went on to get his master's and became active in all these minority engineering programs. And my mother started running for public office. All that happened after the kids were adults. But I'm insanely proud of them.
We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor - got her master's with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.
People have always assumed that I am privileged. And that has been a problem sometimes. When I first started modelling, and I was schlepping around London with no money, I found it rather irksome that people thought I had a private income when I didn't.
I grew up in a very modest house. We were poor-we lived on the poverty level. We all got jobs as young kids.