I feel comfortable here primarily because I think Los Angeles is made up of people who don't come from here, so you can find kindred spirits very easily. It's a town of gypsies.
My own personal favorite Cher song is the unforgettable Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.
I discovered that there is Indian blood in my ancestry on my father's side - a fact that had not been talked about in my family. No wonder I've often been cast in exotic roles - Indian princesses, Russian revolutionaries, Algerians, Gypsies and Greeks.
Fifty years after half a million gypsies were exterminated in the Second World War - thousands of them in Auschwitz - we're again preparing the mass killing of this minority.
My family is basically Gypsies - for real.
The music of the Gypsies belongs in the sphere of improvisation rather than in any other, without which it would have no power to exist.
All my family back to the 1700s were water Gypsies. My brothers and me, we were the first ones to be born on dry land. All the rest of them were born on barges in the canals.
So finally, I can feel a sort of pride in all my family - Mum, Lynn, Corin, Tasha, my cousin Gemma - because, I think how wonderful that this troop of gypsies can carry on telling stories.
I'm out here to represent the gingers, the gypsies, and the outcasts. Because I am all of the above, and I'm all about having a great time.
There are a lot of us little gypsies out there that need to go and find another place you know. A safer, healthier or just a different venue in order to develop and find ourselves. I am so lucky to live the life that I do.