Quotes

I am proudly voting No on Proposition 8. And am proud to be able to say, years from now when there are plenty more married couples of all types and shapes and colors and sizes trying to do the right thing with their marriage, that I did the right thing.

[on the bad thing about Twitter] It can be a cowardly way to be cruel to people. It's a forum for cowardly bullies. I will never understand why somebody would take their computer or their phone and their time, whatever it is, 140 characters or whatever - even the energy to type with your hand - and choose to use all that to say something nasty about somebody else. I'll never get that. That's the part that always breaks my heart about the Internet.

[on the effect of her role as Abby Sciuto on NCIS (2003)] I get contacted constantly all the time about that. They call it the Abby Effect, about how young girls want to be like her and pursue careers in math and science. It hasn't been long in this country and elsewhere around the world, when women weren't expected to pursue math and science at all. So this little character on TV has really been an inspiration to young girls everywhere. Personally, for me, there's a huge responsibility. I feel the weight every single day.

[on why she uses Twitter] I work for a lot of charities, and it's a good way to to get the word out and use that forum to do really, really good things.. Another good thing is that a person in the public eye needs to dispel rumours. Most of us feel that way. If you're in the spotlight, nobody talks to you; they talk about you or at you. Things come up that are complete fabrications, and this is the way to reach your fans directly and say, 'No, this is the way it really is'.