I was at a small private school in London. I wasn't very academic. My dad said to me, 'OK, you might as well leave, since you're not working very hard'. When I told I him wanted to stay on for my A-levels, he said I'd have to pay my own fees, then he'd pay me back if I got good grades.
Up until I was 12 my sisters used to dress me up as a girl and introduce me as 'Claudia'! Twelve was a real turning point for me as I moved to a mixed school, and then I became cool and discovered hair gel.
I got expelled from my school when I was 12; I was quite bad!
I never really considered myself attractive, really. I was always kind of gangly in school.
School reports were always pretty bad - I never ever did my homework. I always turned up for lessons as I liked my teachers but my report said I didn't try very hard.
We didn't have packed lunches at my school. I was a lunch monitor as well - I used to take everyone's chips!
I didn't want to get stuck in pretty, public school roles, or I knew I'd end up as some sort of caricature.
It's strange, somebody asked for my autograph the other day. Because I finished school and I'm not really doing anything at the moment, I was just kind of aimlessly wandering around London and these two guys who were about 30 came up and asked for my autograph. I was really quite proud at the time, and they wanted to take photos and stuff. And then they were sort of wandering around and I was kind of wandering around and I bumped into them about three times, and every single time their respect for me kept growing and growing and growing.
Everyone used to chuck snails at each other at school, and I used to try and save them. And not only did I get in trouble for it, I got suspended for doing it. For saving the snails I kept about four or five hundred of them at the back of the class -- in Snail Land. We were like six or seven or something, people didn't even realise what they were doing. I had a strange compassion for snails. And the teacher just chucked them all in the trash in the end.
I wasn't at all focused on school, and I didn't achieve much. But I've got a sense of urgency now. I feel I can't let any more time waste away.
Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Every day we present the best quotes! Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends
or simply: