Annie Lennox

Annie: (after receiving an honorary degree from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in July 2006) What I have done with my life has all been about self-invention and I didn't have degrees or qualification or anyone to guide me.

Annie: (on being private about her personal life) What did you expect? I'm human; I feel what anybody else feels. There is a big difference between what I do onstage and what I do in my private life. I don't put my living room on magazine pages. I'm not intensely private - I talk a great deal about my life and my work - I just don't play the game to excess.

Annie: Even in the '80s when people were gay, it was still difficult for them to come out, whereas nowadays, 20 years on, I think, um, we have a far more open-minded society that embraces the notion of homosexuality, and I think there was this doubt about my gender, you know, and at the time it possibly was controversial but... they missed my message, if you see what I mean, because for me it wasn't about a sexual issue, it was more of a feminist thing.