Cathy Rigby quotes:

I'll talk to kids afterward and somebody will always say, 'I'll leave my bedroom window open for you.

I never realized until recently how much my life parallels Peter Pan.

I would climb on roofs and jump off using my parents' bed sheet, hoping it would open like a parachute. I was always getting hurt, breaking a leg, you know, bruising, cracking my head open.

Acting allows me the freedom to let go, to be in the moment, to be spontaneous. I no longer have the fear of losing, of failure.

The thing I received from Girl Scouts more than anything else was a sense of real teamwork and working for the community, helping others, and it was not competitive. I remember working as a group to achieve a goal or to help the community. There was a great sense of accomplishment in that.

In high school I never went to the prom because I was too consumed with gymnastics. Also, with my hair in pigtails and looking about 10, I wasn't exactly date material.

I was always very active as a kid. I would climb on roofs and jump off using my parents' bed sheet, hoping it would open like a parachute. I was always getting hurt, breaking a leg, you know, bruising, cracking my head open.

When you're on the Olympic team at 15, you don't do anything else. There's no normal social development, and your decisions are made for you.

It's that athlete's obsessiveness - the need to prove yourself and work harder than anybody else. I think it's what helped me do well in the theater.

I grew up in a sport that didn't allow you to grow up. There was always the threat of younger competition. So you had to maintain the image of youth.

Seeing the show is like a visit to the fountain of youth for parents and the children.

So it really does have a sort of bittersweet quality. Kids like to have adventures and to believe they can fly, but there's also that fear about people leaving you.

Flying is such a joy. You just want to hoot.

I have three dogs and a cockatoo.

I've been able to play a kid up to this point and pretend that I'm not a grown-up - well, at least for two hours a night!

Nowadays a gold medal is a $1 million contract. Our athletes are our heroes.

There's so much denial in gymnastics. It's a beautiful sport but the other part is numbing. You become machinelike. They'll refute this, but I've been around it. I know.

An athlete learns how to hold her breath, but that doesn't work in singing. You have to learn to relax.

I will jump into most any role.

It's really hard to separate fantasy from reality.

Actually, performing is a lot like golf. You are alone, so vulnerable.

There's no disgrace in failure, the disgrace is not to try.