By age 28, you were a star thanks to The Mask of Zorro and had met your husband [Michael Douglas] at a fi lm festival. Did you worry about peaking too soon? Well, it was a big year for me, and I've always been ambitious. I do think you get better as you get older as an actress. But if I hadn't peaked at that young age, I don't know if I would have been able to relax in my 30s as a woman and a wife.

Because when I had my children, I wanted them to have as normal a life as possible.

What did "a normal life" entail? Michael's mother [actress Diana Douglas] was from Bermuda so soon after our kids were born, we moved out of the States and put them in schools there. It's a British colony, so I got to drive on the correct side of the road! And it was very close to New York. We were there for ten years, and it was a profoundly wonderful time. I knew I'd never get those years back. I missed my childhood, but I didn't want to miss my motherhood.

You also won an Oscar in 2003 for playing Velma Kelly in Chicago. How did that affect you? I was completely honored and stunned and thrilled. Musicals are either very good or horrid. There is no grey area. So, to be lauded in that way was very fulfilling. Chicago was also the capstone for all my years doing musical theater. I loved that my passion was put on celluloid and encapsulated forever. Did it take the pressure off ? I guess it did. It made me OK with all my life choices.