The late 80s was quite a difficult time for me as an artist because I'd almost become a parody of myself. All people wanted was pink hair and for me to sing 'I Want to Be Free.' There's nothing wrong with either of those but people need to see you as a person for you to be an artist.

Toyah Willcox

Some people believe tarot cards are a form of black magic or senseless new age mysticism but for me they are a practical way of talking directly to the universe.

Toyah Willcox

Car Age Way

You should never undermine friendship and loyalty.

Toyah Willcox

Friendship You Ya

My own teenage style was modelled on Barbara Hulanicki's Biba look, which was based around smart 1930s chic. Roxy Music crystallised that look and made it high fashion. You felt that they were living the dream.

Toyah Willcox

Teen Music Art

Live to live. Don't live to die. And never stop learning.

Toyah Willcox

Learning Top T

My relationship with my father was absolutely wonderful. He was the love of my life and pivotal in my life. He was a good, kind man with very strong Buddhist and spiritual beliefs. He could do no wrong and he was my best friend until he died in 2009.

Toyah Willcox

Relationship Love Life

I'm just not interested in the norm. The only example I can give you is I can't go to a hairdresser and talk about holidays. I just don't live in that world. It's not me.

Toyah Willcox

You World Us

Acupuncture has made all the difference to my sleep.

Toyah Willcox

Up UN T

When I left home at 17, I became successful astronomically fast. But I think my parents were so frightened of me failing that they focused on that more than my success.

Toyah Willcox

Success Home Were

See, I hold myself through my own muscle strength. That is why I'm built like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Toyah Willcox

War Strength Zen

I've always played all the old songs. I'd go and see Peter Gabriel or Madonna and be surprised if they didn't play all the hits. People don't want to come and hear the B-sides.

Toyah Willcox

Pet Ways Way

I'd like young people to seek my advice, and trust that the decades I have lived through have added to my abilities to be a valuable contributor to the workplace and society.

Toyah Willcox

Work Trust Society

I don't think my insomnia is fixable: I think it's in my DNA.

Toyah Willcox

Think Thin T

I moved to London to work at the National Theatre and spent my first wage packet on Patti Smith, Bowie and Velvets records.

Toyah Willcox

Work Age Wage

Punk is the voice that shouts the loudest from the silence of inertia.

Toyah Willcox

Voice UN T

Until I was seven, I was very close to my mother because I was so ill and she had to teach me how to walk and talk. But then she had another child, a little girl called Fleur, who died. When she came home from hospital there was a bit of a distance between us. It was never talked about again.

Toyah Willcox

Home Who Walk

My mother is not a naturally happy person and is very complex. She won't allow any of us to touch her. Not even my father hugs her. And, as a family, we never kiss each other. Yet we do have a close relationship.

Toyah Willcox

Relationship Family Won

I believe in the paranormal and I accept it but I don't change my life around it. I'm not an avid follower, as it were. I am open-minded.

Toyah Willcox

Life Change Were

Growing up with dyslexia and struggling in the classroom because of it, I know how infuriating and frustrating it can be to be treated wrongly as though you're of below par intelligence.

Toyah Willcox

Intelligence You Wrong

I was very naughty, even as a baby.

Toyah Willcox

Very T Naughty

At one stage I was using crutches on stage and couldn't walk more than 20 yards but a hip replacement in 2010 sorted that out.

Toyah Willcox

Men Age Yards

My 30s were a nightmare because I was so uncomfortable. If I could have unzipped myself and stepped out of my body, I would have done.

Toyah Willcox

The late 80s was quite a difficult time for me as an artist because I'd almost become a parody of myself. All people wanted was pink hair and for me to sing 'I Want to Be Free.' There's nothing wrong with either of those but people need to see you as a person for you to be an artist.

Toyah Willcox

I've studied nutrition since I was 23 and I began to find that a lot of my eating habits were to do with boredom and frustrations rather than hunger. When I was thirsty I would eat rather than drink.

Toyah Willcox

Not sleeping is a problem when you get older. Not only is it linked to weight gain but the whole point of sleep is it allows your body to heal and replenish itself which is vital for good health.

Toyah Willcox

I think very fast and visually and I have to write down an idea right away or it will be lost forever.

Toyah Willcox

In my industry who you know is very important.

Toyah Willcox

Remember all those you work with. You never know when you will meet again.

Toyah Willcox

I was at stage school in Birmingham Rep when I was called down to London for an audition in the National Theatre. Maximilian Schell, the film actor, was casting Tales from the Vienna Woods. He was looking at me for a small, but significant, role.

Toyah Willcox

Because of my career I have a huge wardrobe of fantastic costumes and they take up almost an entire house. Many of my stage outfits are worth a lot of money. To save cash I buy my more practical outfits from Primark.

Toyah Willcox

Far too many of my peers were taken in by the jet-setting rock star lifestyle and didn't realise the money might not last forever - but I have always had an eye on the future and invest in a syndicate to share risk.

Toyah Willcox

I want to make money but not if it involves exploitation.

Toyah Willcox

Snob value has great appeal. I have a couple of properties on the French Riviera that have doubled in value - I may buy more as the region continues to be developed.

Toyah Willcox

My early family life was incredibly happy but I was very, very protected and very much living in a bubble. I was born with my legs bent inwards and clawed feet.

Toyah Willcox

My parents were incredibly strict. My father went through a stage where he'd line us up every Friday and cane our hands if we'd been naughty. And this was mainly to pull my brother into line. My brother is five years older and my sister's eight years older. He would use a little bamboo cane, which my brother saw most of.

Toyah Willcox

Melissa Caplan made my costumes from the 70s to the mid-80s. I was very influenced by futurism and reading a lot of Marge Piercy.

Toyah Willcox

Look and image were very important - there was already incredible pressure to look feminine and sexy but I wanted to look individual and strong. I didn't have any role models except Little Nell from 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show.'

Toyah Willcox

There's an irony about making a film about punk because punk isn't supposed to have feature films made about it.

Toyah Willcox

I am creative with both my limitations and my sense that everything is possible.

Toyah Willcox

I have a confession. I don't enjoy animation. I have no idea why because I absolutely adore doing voiceovers. I think part of me feels that animation has put an actor out of work.

Toyah Willcox

I'm really muscular because my mother had to teach me how to straighten my own spine. It wasn't good for my relationship with her because she was dictatorial about it, but in the end I was able to disguise what I had.

Toyah Willcox

The NHS is something we should put above everything else.

Toyah Willcox

If you don't protect the NHS, you're going to have health ghettoes where people can't get treated.

Toyah Willcox

I have always had disrupted, broken sleep.

Toyah Willcox

I cannot emphasise enough how important exercise is. I have to do at least a three-mile fast walk a day, usually in the afternoon. Movement is incredibly important in helping my body use up my energy.

Toyah Willcox

I take books on learning to bed - music theory, colour theory - and usually my brain thinks, 'Um, I think I'd rather turn off,' than learn something.

Toyah Willcox

Between 2007 and 2016, I had a large white rabbit called WillyFred. I was happiest pressing my ear to his fur and hearing his heart beat.

Toyah Willcox

I am disproportionately ambitious.

Toyah Willcox

I have always fought against being gender specific. I just don't like being identified as female: I'm a person.

Toyah Willcox

The world doesn't reward talent, it mostly rewards those who are connected.

Toyah Willcox

Punk helped musical fringes get attention. Stuff like Nirvana could never have happened without it.

Toyah Willcox