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My father made with me one serious mistake which I see parents about me making. He got himself somehow into the awkward position of an authority; I thought he knew and was right on everything - for a while.

I went home one night and told my dad that an older kid was picking on me. My Dad, a Korean War vet and a Chicago cop for 30 years, told me, 'You better pick up a brick and hit him in the head.' That's when I thought, 'Wow, I'm going to have to start dealing with things in a different way.'

Now that I'm a parent, I understand why my father was in a bad mood a lot.

When I was younger and my parents used to always slap my hand if I was picking my nose or if I was running around screaming I was told to shut up.

My dad made a huge impact on me in terms of right and wrong.

Fortunately for me, I had a father who didn't let us get away with anything. You were taught respect, and you were taught to be humble. That has a lot to do with how I am now, because I'm still scared of my dad.

My dad's a very sensitive man, but as the archetypal rebellious teenager, I didn't realise that.

My father was a mean, controlling and manipulative person for most of his life. He was unpredictable and unstable.

My dad used to give me a lot of spankings. Anything I did wrong, he was on me. I was raised by a strict disciplinarian. He kind of laid down the law.

My parents taught me the way to deal with being picked on was to be compassionate. I had to defend myself physically, but I had to be compassionate and understand the position of those abusing me. I had to figure it out and then rise above it.