For those of you who always ask why I love and have always looked up to Mandy so much.

ANN CURRY: Who do you emulate? Who do you want to be when you grow up?
MANDY MOORE: I don’t know. People that I looked up to growing up… like the number one person to me was Bette Midler.
ANN CURRY: Why?
MANDY MOORE: I loved Bette Midler. She was on Broadway, in film, had a recording career, had a TV career, she was a wife, she was a mother, she did it all, she was a household name without compromising who she was.
ANN CURRY: And that’s who you want to be. The girl who can do it your own way.
MANDY MOORE: My own way.

— More from Mandy – Mandy Moore feature on Dateline NBC (Write-up | Video) (12/9/2003)