[About Charlotte Rae creating Cohn's character made especially for her]: Mr. Reynolds calls me into his office. It seemed that Charlotte Rae had fallen madly in love with me, in part because I reminded her of her best childhood friend Natalie - and I was irrepressible, charming, and hilarious. So she asked the producers to create a part for me in the show. Honestly, the whole thing seemed so fantastic I didn't know what to think.

[In 2012, dispelling a rumor that Molly Ringwald was mistreated on The Facts of Life (1979)] I'll answer that because Molly and I are actually working together again on The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008). So no! That first year was very hard for a lot of girls who were cast and didn't become regulars. I think for a 22-minute sitcom to try and give 8 girls at the time, plus Charlotte Rae, plus two other adults lines, I think there was a sense of "What am I doing here?" And Molly had just come off a run on "Annie" on Broadway, and she was on her way up. She'll be the first to tell you that getting off the "Facts of Life" was the best thing that ever happened to her career. I didn't hear that rumor, and I don't think that's her experience.

[Of Charlotte Rae]: More than anything else, my heart just is open to celebrating Charlotte Rae, and the amazing career that she has had, which gratefully included 9 years of The Facts of Life (1979).

[on her latter on- and off-screen chemistry with Charlotte Rae, who played "Edna Garrett"]: I was discovered by Charlotte Rae and the producer at the time, Norman Lear, came to the school that I was attending, "Westlake School For Girls", to try and authenticate the scripts and try to get a feel of what it was like to be - in an all-girls school, and Charlotte really wanted to make sure that "Mrs. Garrett", there was a reason for "Mrs. Garrett" to leave Diff'rent Strokes (1978), which was the show she started on, and go to this all-girls school, for a reason. So, they were trying to figure that out, so I was one of the students they talked to and she and I hit it off ... I guess, extremely well, as a 13-year-old. I don't really know what that means to hit it off with someone.

[on the impending departure of Charlotte Rae, who played Edna Garrett, from 1978-1986 on both Diff'rent Strokes (1978) and The Facts of Life (1979), which was a spin-off]: One of the reasons she left was that this show is really started to focused on the girls, the pull of the show started to be different of her. She sorta felt like 'I'm done!'

[Who admitted that in one aspect she was similar to her Natalie Green character]: Anything that takes more than 20 minutes? No can do.

Ultimately, I want people to be able to see me, that I'm an actor. Sometimes people see me with whatever label, and I've not yet been able to show what I can do. That's the exciting part. I still have the tenacity and the hunger, and my patience is going to pay off. My motto in life is 'The best is yet to come'.

[on her The Facts of Life (1979) co-star, who was fired after the first season]: Felice Schachter is my soul sister. Felice and I became incredibly close, very quickly, very same sensibility. She just felt like family. I think Felice got a bum deal.

[on herself being overshadowed by her Natalie Green character]: It's a catch-22, I get the 'Where have you been? We want to see more of you' comments and I also understand from a producer's point of view, 'We don't want Natalie in our movie.'

Right now, I'm an unemployed actor. My dream is to do eight shows a week [on stage], but I can't do that and financially take care of myself in the way I've become accustomed.