My mother kept the house clean and we ate good. I didn't know we were poor until I started giving interviews.

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.

Everything my mother made had to cook for 80 hours, and when she made matzoh balls she didn't know fluffy. Everything sank.

I just never saw my mother in any other room but the kitchen. There were always pots going.

I don't remember my mother ever playing with me. And she was a perfectly good mother. But she had to do the laundry and clean the house and do the grocery shopping.

Giving some poor fellow three days to live -- that made me a participant. I made it very clear after that: I want nothing more to do with any hostage tapes. Any that you give me will not see the light of day.