“When I was growing up, it was still during Apartheid, so the country was very shielded from the outside artistic world. Anything that was too subversive was basically banned. All the music that we got from outside of South Africa was the poppiest, least subversive music that you could get.” WorldStillsCountryGrowing UpGrowingSouthArtisticSouth AfricaApartheidSubversiveBanned Author:St. Lucia
“I feel like kids that grew up in New York City or in L.A. were exposed to all these subcultures and subgenres, whereas I was only exposed to the poppiest of pop music so I never had this negative connotation towards pop music. That's not South African music having an effect on me, but just how international music was filtered through South Africa affected me. It gave me a not-negative connotation towards pop music growing up.” FeelsKidsCitiesGrowing UpGrowingEffectsNew YorkGrewGrew UpNegativeSouthInternationalPopsAffectedNew York CityExposedSouth AfricaPop MusicConnotationSubcultureAfrican Music Author:St. Lucia
“The racial conversation in the States is so multifaceted and multilayered. Obviously it's not always a positive conversation, but it's just so much more detailed than it was when I was growing up in South Africa.” StatesGrowing UpGrowingConversationSouthSouth Africa Author:St. Lucia
“When I was growing up, there were no cell phones and no roads into the bush, and so if something happened to your plane, that was serious. Nobody was coming to rescue you.” IfsGrowing UpGrowingHappenedSeriousPhonesCellsPlanesRescueCell Phone Author:Leigh Newman
“Most kids who grow up in Alaska and spend a fair degree of time in the wilderness, grow up being pretty self-reliant. You have to be, in order to survive all the animals and cliffs and crevasses and rapids - at some point, your brain has to kick [out of] that childish daydream world and start making I-want-to-live decisions.” WorldWantSelfKidsOrderGrowsDecisionAnimalBrainGrowing UpDegreesFairsKicksWildernessRapidsCliffsDaydreamingAlaskaSelf ReliantBeing Pretty Author:Leigh Newman
“I don't think many kids question their surroundings. Everything seems so permanent and inevitable growing up, even chaos.” ThinkingSeemsKidsGrowing UpGrowingChaosInevitablePermanentSurroundings Author:Leigh Newman
“I never had good hair growing up - just had the worst nothing hair - and until I started being rough with it, even 'til this day I'm actually pretty rough with it, and ever since I've been like that it's been pretty darn good to me.” Growing UpGrowingWorstHairRoughThis DayGood Hair Author:Lights
“I met him when I was 18. We split up when I was 38. He saw me grow up too. He was a client, and also a friend. Such things are more common than people might think. This arrangement was not so different than many American relationships. That's why the laws against prostitution have got to go. They are totally unfair and mean.” PeopleThinkingMeanDifferentMightLawGrowsCommonGrowing UpSawsMetsSplitsClientsUnfairArrangementsProstitution Author:Annie Sprinkle
“Young people, we have this thing about us, this invincibility, because we're young and we're growing up and we want to have fun, and we want to be crazy, and nothing's wrong with that unless you're not being responsible.” PeopleWantYoungFunGrowing UpGrowingCrazyResponsibleHaving FunBeing ResponsibleBeing CrazyInvincibility Author:Rihanna
“I'm very lucky that I have people styling my hair and teaching me how to work with it, but it wasn't always like that. Growing up, I had extremely wavy and thick hair and that can be very overwhelming - you end up with the same ponytail every day.” PeopleEndsGrowing UpGrowingTeachingHairLuckyOverwhelmingThickPonytailsThick Hair Author:Crystal Renn
“When I was growing up in the '50s, I had never heard of a "woman film director," so I did not consider it as an option. But I was fortunate that in the late-'60s and '70s, because of the feminist movement, women were stepping into all sorts of careers that had been closed to them in the past and film was one of them.” PastFilmCareersGrowing UpGrowingHeardMovementDirectorsLateFeministFortunateFilm DirectorsFeminist Movement Author:Chris Hegedus
“I've always been an outsider kid. But I had always wanted to be in a group - growing up, I loved bands like the Cranberries and K's Choice.” KidsWantedChoicesGrowing UpGrowingGroupsBandOutsidersCranberries Author:Dawn Angelique
“The kids I knew growing up who worked on bikes all loved the smell of gas. It is the liquid agent for speed.” KidsGrowing UpGrowingSmellSpeedAgentsGasBikeLiquid Author:Rachel Kushner
“I have fond memories of growing up in beautiful England. It is very much a part of the fabric of me, even though I left when I was quite young. It's just a very different culture over there, filled with a profound depth of history.” DifferentBeautifulYoungCultureLeftMemoriesGrowing UpGrowingEnglandFilledProfoundDepthFabricDifferent CulturesFond Memories Author:Samantha Newark
“I'm a huge fan of the animated film 'The Land Before Time' and that was one of my favourite animated films when I was growing up.” FilmGrowing UpGrowingFansLandHugeFavouriteAnimatedAnimated Films Author:Bryce Dallas Howard
“Even just pestering people with questions, and being nosey and pushy and getting her way, are things I think many young women grow up struggling with, to assert themselves.” PeopleThinkingWayYoungGrowsStruggleGrowing UpYoung WomenPushyNosey Author:Deborah Ann Woll
“I remember growing up and hearing the word "ugly" a lot. "I'm ugly." "She ugly." "He ugly." I hated it then, and I hate it now. I go past physical beauty; I tell people they have a beautiful spirit and that is something different.” PeopleDifferentPastBeautifulRememberSpiritHateGrowing UpGrowingI HateUglyHearingHatedPhysical Beauty Author:Jamel Shabazz
“My parents brought me up on all different styles of music, like my Mum would listen to Motown R&B and my Dad was quite 80's driven, so I was always surrounded by music growing up.” DifferentParentGrowing UpGrowingStyleDadMy DadDrivenMumDifferent StylesMotown Author:Ella Henderson
“I knew what I didn't want, and I knew whatever it was going to be it had to be believable and it had to come from me and I had to drive it. The way I write is very honest and when I think of the music that I listened to growing up, I loved it because I believed it.” ThinkingWayWantWritingGrowing UpGrowingHonestBelievable Author:Ella Henderson
“I think I would have been a lot more miserable and discovered a lot less of things I liked if I hadn't had LiveJournal in high school. I think it's interesting how blogging seems to be shaping a new generation of writers. I feel like growing up with the Internet/blogging/other structures seems to be a reason for the similarities people see in Tao Lin's writing and other young writers, rather than direct.” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsWritingHas BeensReasonSeemsSchoolYoungInterestingGrowing UpGrowingGenerationsInternetHigh SchoolDirectStructureMiserableTaoSimilarityBloggingNew GenerationYoung Writers Author:Marie Calloway
“I'm not very close to my parents. My stepfather (in my opinion) was very emotionally abusive when I was growing up and there were a lot of other issues I don't feel comfortable talking about publicly. I spent a lot of time in therapy dealing with these issues though, and I feel i'm finally starting to move past them.” FeelsPastMovingParentTalkingOpinionGrowing UpIssuesGrowingComfortableStartingTherapyAbusiveStepfathers Author:Marie Calloway
“I just want my fans to grow up and enjoy the music first, I don't want to change the world that's not what my music is about.” WorldWantFirstsGrowsEnjoyGrowing UpFansMusic IsChanging The World Author:ASAP Rocky
“Growing up with Tumblr, I can imagine if I was fourteen now being in high school and being on Tumblr all the time in class - that must be such an annoying thing for teachers to have to deal with!” IfsI CanSchoolDealsClassGrowing UpTeacherGrowingImagineHigh SchoolAnnoyingFourteenAnnoying Things Author:Lizzy Plapinger
“8 year old young girl came up to me when I went to speak at an elementary school, and she gave me a drawing. It was great and she said "I want to be just like you when I grow up and direct movies". And that just made me choke up. It was so cute, and the reason why she's looking at me is I look like her.” WantYearsLooksMadeSaidReasonSchoolYoungGirlSpeakGrowsGrowing UpLike YouDirectDrawingReason WhyCuteChokeLike HerElementary School Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“After Bottle Rocket, I started getting acting work. People started offering me roles in movies. It wasn't something that I thought about as a kid growing up in Texas. Actually, maybe I would have thought of it as a possibility, but it seemed so crazily far-fetched to think that you could work in movies that I really didn't ever quite imagine it. It was just lucky.” PeopleThinkingKidsActingRolesGrowing UpGrowingImaginePossibilityLuckyBottlesTexasOfferingRocketsKids Growing UpBottle Rocket Author:Owen Wilson
“Ozzy is a powerful and attractive man. When I grow up I want to be Ozzy.” MenWantGrowsPowerfulGrowing UpAttractiveAttractive Man Author:Ozzy Osbourne
“Growing up, I wanted to be a sports commentator. Then my aunt introduced me to the fashion industry, and everything sort of fell into place.” WantedSportsGrowing UpGrowingFashionIndustryAuntCommentatorsFashion Industry Author:Olivia Palermo
“Music education is very important. I think that for me growing up, I was disciplined very hard at home.” ThinkingImportantHardHomeGrowing UpGrowingMusic Education Author:Sean Mackin
“My Mom played violin and piano when she was growing up and she insisted, and I don't know if you can imagine how uncool it is to play the violin when you're eight and ten years old, but I told my Mom that I would quit every day until I went to high school and I met these other gentlemen who would become Yellowcard, and my friends, and I really fell in love with music and it wasn't just classical music, just submerged in the arts in the school I was in.” IfsKnowsYearsArtPlaySchoolGrowing UpGrowingImagineMomMetsTenHigh SchoolMy FriendsMy MomEightQuittingPianoGentlemanClassical MusicViolinSubmergedUncool Author:Sean Mackin
“I would definitely write to the kid that I was before, to embrace the moment. I think that often times when you're coming of age or growing up you look forward and you work really hard instead of sitting back and relaxing and enjoying the moment.” ThinkingWritingLooksHardMomentsKidsAgeEnjoyGrowing UpGrowingSittingEmbraceComing Of AgeEnjoying The Moment Author:Sean Mackin
“People when they're growing up they just want to fit in, there are a lot of social pressures on young people today to kind of have it all figured out and know what they want to do, know who they are straight away and I've always tried to embrace that sense of pressure, but I've got people around me that do as well.” PeopleKnowsWantWellsKindTodayYoungSocialGrowing UpGrowingFitPressureEmbraceSocial Pressure Author:Joshua James Alphonse Franceschi
“As a biracial girl growing up in England, I'd never really seen any historical characters who looked like me depicted on film before that weren't being brutalized or playing slaves.” CharacterFilmGirlGrowing UpGrowingEnglandHistoricalSlaveLike MeBiracialGirls Growing Up Author:Gugu Mbatha-Raw
“My father, Arinze Ejiofor , was a musician and a doctor. Nobody's ever asked me about that combination and what growing up in that environment was like.” FatherGrowing UpEnvironmentGrowingMusicianDoctorsCombination Author:Chiwetel Ejiofor
“I can't speak for the Kathryn Stockett, but I would guess that she feels proud of the progress the South has made because, growing up, she experienced a very different Mississippi than the one that exists today.” FeelsMadeI CanDifferentTodaySpeakGrowing UpGrowingProgressProudSouthMississippi Author:Viola Davis
“I enjoyed meeting Emma [Watson]. I have a soft spot in my heart for child actors growing up. I know how hard that is. Having gone through that experience myself, I have a lot of sensitivity to it. For lack of a better word, I just feel like I love these kids, and I want them all to grow up and love themselves, and not get caught up in the wrong things, and to learn all the different things this profession has to give, and to understand it.” KnowsWantGivingFeelsHeartChildrenDifferentHardKidsActorsGrowsKnow HowGoneGrowing UpGrowingMy HeartAnd LoveMeetingsCaughtProfessionSpotsEnjoyedDifferent ThingsSensitivityCaught UpWrong ThingsWatsonEmmaChild Actors Author:Ethan Hawke
“It's interesting to get older and realize that part of your job growing up in this profession is to help the next generation. More and more, with Boyhood and with Ellar Coltrane and with Emma [Watson], I start to see that role. There's no better way. Nobody wants advice, so you can't really give it. You just have to try to wish them well on their journey.” WayWantGivingTryingWellsHelpingJobsNextWishRealizingInterestingRolesGrowing UpGrowingGenerationsJourneyAdviceProfessionNext GenerationBetter WaysWatsonEmmaBoyhoodColtrane Author:Ethan Hawke
“I think rejection is a huge part of the business and there's so many cute girls that grow up with kind of being adored or people kind of bending over backwards for them. I see a lot of girls who aren't used to rejection because of that, and now all of a sudden they drop out of the business.” PeopleThinkingKindUsedGirlGrowsGrowing UpHugeCuteRejectionBackwardsBendingCute GirlBending Over Author:April Rose
“Growing up in that fashion is a breeding ground for insecurity and doubt; it also leaves you questioning motives. It took me a long time to see the world as I want it without constantly looking for approval. I still fall, but I'm better suited for survival.” WorldWantLongStillsFallGrowing UpDoubtGrowingFashionSurvivalLong TimeMotiveInsecurityApprovalQuestioningBreeding Author:Damon Runyon
“We are all born with an open heart, but at some point as we are growing up, things happen in our lives where we start to shut down, like rejection, not fitting in, wanting approval, judgments, comparisons, and criticism of others.” HeartHappensBornGrowing UpOur LivesGrowingJudgmentCriticismThings HappenRejectionComparisonApprovalFittingOpen HeartCriticism Of OthersNot Fitting Author:Agapi Stassinopoulos
“I was lucky to grow up with phenomenal parents who were into talking about things. When something hit me hard as a kid, we'd just talk about it. I'm usually pretty open about what's going on with me. I'm not a great actor in the sense that I can't fake it if I'm going through something difficult.” IfsI CanHardKidsActorsGrowsParentDifficultTalkingGrowing UpLuckyFakePhenomenalGreat Actors Author:Eric Lange
“I was fortunate enough not to grow up in Hollywood, so I feel that was a blessing. Being surrounded by nature and animals always kept me grounded and happy. My parents were smart to keep my brother and I away from that nonsense. I do live in the LA area now, but I keep my balance by hiking in the mountains with my dogs and taking trail rides every week on my horse.” FeelsEnoughGrowsParentAnimalGrowing UpWeekDogBrotherBalanceBlessingMountainSmartAreasHollywoodHorseFortunateMy BrotherNonsenseHikingGroundedTrailsMy DogHiking In The MountainsNature And Animals Author:Alison Eastwood
“Growing up, I spent summers with my grandparents in a small seaside town in Croatia. It's the most beautiful place on the planet. I still go back every year. It reminds me of what's important in life.” YearsStillsImportantBeautifulGrowing UpGrowingPlanetsSummerTownsGrandparentWhat's ImportantBeautiful PlacesCroatia Author:Vanya Asher
“I always loved watching and reading family-friendly mysteries growing up, like the shows Murder, She Wrote and Nancy Drew, and am thrilled to be bringing these New York Times best-selling books right into your living room on the small screen.” BookShowsReadingRoomsGrowing UpGrowingMysteryNew YorkMurderScreensSellingFriendlyNew York TimesLiving RoomNancySelling BooksNancy Drew Author:Candace Cameron
“[London is] one of the best cities in the world. There is just so much culture there and so much history and so much diversity. It's just a perfect place to grow up. I studied at the Guildhall every Saturday so I'd always be in town every weekend doing that. I was kind of a city boy really.” WorldKindCultureGrowsPerfectCitiesBoysGrowing UpDiversityTownsLondonWeekendSaturdayCities In The World Author:Douglas Booth
“London exists normally in a state of bleach bypass. There's the artistic context of "Blow Up" and "Performance" and all the Sixties and Seventies British films that I grew up on, because I did very much grow up on British films.” StatesFilmGrowsGrowing UpGrewGrew UpPerformancesBlowBritishLondonArtisticSixtySeventiesBypassBleachBritish Film Author:William Monahan
“I think The Magicians takes these conventional ideas from this Christian literature of good vs. evil and it sort of shakes it up and asks a deeper, darker question about the nature of not just humanity in the face of good vs. evil, but the challenges of everyday life. And I think there's something incredibly timely about that and incredibly relatable to anyone who's growing up. Because we're all growing up. We're all constantly evolving.” ThinkingIdeasChristianFacesHumanityEvilAsksLiteratureChallengesGrowing UpGrowingEverydayDeeperEvolveShakesConventionalEveryday LifeMagicianRelatableTimelyGood Vs EvilShake It Up Author:Hale Appleman
“I went to Paterson Public School No. 6. At the time, it was the worst school in the city. Ain't nobody want their kids to go to School 6; it was that bad. But it was where we lived. If you grow up in a bad area, there are bad things around it.” IfsWantKidsSchoolGrowsCitiesGrowing UpWorstAreasBad ThingsPublic School Author:Fetty Wap
“I've had several moments in my career where it seemed like I might not age out of the bracket the world wants to put you in. It's hard to keep growing up inside the performing arts. It's very difficult, and presents a lot of unique challenges.” WorldWantArtHardMomentsMightAgeDifficultChallengesCareersGrowing UpGrowingUniquePerformingPerforming ArtsBrackets Author:Ethan Hawke
“Growing up in Mississippi, I realized that it was separate and unequal and all that, but it was still a safe place.” StillsGrowing UpGrowingSafeI RealizedMississippiSafe Places Author:Morgan Freeman
“It's funny because growing up, when Ali G first burst off the screen, it was something that I was probably too young to be watching, but I absolutely loved it.” FirstsYoungGrowing UpGrowingScreens Author:Ed Speleers