Alana Stewart

I watch what I eat. I'm careful with exercise. I do enough to try to stay healthy, but I don't overdo, and I pace myself... Most important of all though, I try to think healthy thoughts.

I think that research is incredibly important and hopefully one day there will be a cure for cancer. They are making great strides.

I've aged well because I've had to take care of myself.

It's fine to have armed guards, but don't then tell everyone else they can't own a gun.

I sleep with my gun on my bedside table. I live alone; it is my protection and makes me feel safer. I have had to pull it out a few times when I have heard noises at night, but I've never had to use it.

It bothers me when the Hollywood elite are all so against people having guns and want rigorous gun restrictions. But I am friends with a lot of them, and most have armed guards with them or outside their homes.

I do get up in the morning and I try to spend at least half an hour meditating and reading something spiritual. I start my day with meditation and prayer, and I truly believe that all the stuff you do on the outside isn't as important as what you do on the inside.

I grew up poor and used to look at people in big houses and thought they had everything. Then, later on, I looked at models in magazines and thought they had it all. When you have the ability to live that life, to some extent you find out that they don't have any magic cure for everything.

Sometimes you just have to let go of the old and trust that something better is going to take its place, even if it's scary to face change and the unknown.

One of the commitments I made to myself when I decided to write a book was to be brutally honest, particularly about myself.

Our thoughts really do create our lives. They've done a lot of research showing if you're an optimistic, positive person you will be a healthier person than if you're a sad, depressed, negative person.

I don't regret either of my marriages - not for a minute.

Being friends with anyone for 30 years is no easy task - people change, they drift apart, they move on.

For anyone going through a divorce or any other painful challenge, the first and most important recommendation I can make is to find some kind of spiritual and emotional support.

Divorce is never easy, but it's even more painful when you find out your husband is having an affair with a beautiful model fifteen years younger than you.

I don't worry about gaining weight. I'm fortunate in that I've never had to worry about that. Some people eat when they are stressed. I don't eat enough.

I've elected to age gracefully.

I grew up poor and used to look at people in big houses and thought they had everything. Then later on I looked at models in magazines and thought they had it all.

I went to one doctor who told me I wasn't exercising enough. I was so exhausted, I couldn't raise my arm. When this doctor called it psychosomatic, I was enraged. To think the constant sore throat and swollen glands were all in my head was infuriating.

A Texas girl who grew up in terrible poverty, I ended up leading a pretty glamorous life.