On 9/11

Marshall had many friends who were firefighters and as a native New Yorker remains very emotional when it comes to September 11. "When I was recording for book on tape," Marshall said, "I couldn't get through that part -- I just kept tearing up."

On unplanned pregnancies

Having sex with her college sweetheart to cheer him up after a football squad setback, Marshall became pregnant and embarked on a hasty teenage marriage. (At City Hall, they were handed a newlywed's "Starter Kit" consisting of a bar of soap, toothpaste and a small box of Tide.) The pair spent much of their honeymoon watching news about John F. Kennedy's assassination, and things didn't pick up much after that.

Many years later she found herself once again pregnant and unmarried, and though close friend Joe Pesci gallantly offered to step in and act as father, she made the difficult decision to have an abortion. "I didn't want to be tied to the kid's (biological) father," Marshall said. "And that situation was one of my life's only big regrets."

In the end

Through the various heartbreaks and setbacks, Marshall said she knows how to surmount it all. Framed in her bathroom is the Waylon Jennings lyric that speaks to the secret of her success: "I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane."