Saying the things that people won't say, and telling the stories that people don't tell, lies at the center of what Amy Schumer does. She applies the same merciless rigor to her own life, both in the material from which she fashions much of her comedy, and in how she talks about herself and her life offstage.

Here, for example, are three conversations with her about life before she became famous that took place during our interviews for her forthcoming GQ cover story—three conversations it is difficult to imagine taking place with many, if any, other modern celebrities.

ON SHOPLIFTING:

When you were young, you had a whole unusual fondness for shoplifting, didn't you?

Is it unusual? Actually, I think it's pretty typical of white girls.

Well, doing some shoplifting may be typical. But it sounds like you did a bit more than that.

Yes. I started just with my girlfriends—we would steal a bathing suit or some makeup or I don't know—and then I just got more serious about it. It became grand larceny when I was in college. I just discovered this department store where you could just take whatever and then return it for cash—no tags, no receipt, nothing. You know, thousands of dollars. It was exciting. It was the adrenaline—the actual act of getting away with it. It wasn't about the money, even though the money was nice. And I didn't feel bad about it—it was this huge corporation. You know, I never stole from people. I never stole from a little store.

You've said you might have stolen about $100,000 worth of stuff overall.

Sure. Yeah.

That's…

It's a lot. Yeah. I was stealing, like, age 14 to 21? I think I was arrested when I was 21. I got arrested stealing from Bloomingdale's with my sister—which I'd never stolen from before but Kim was like, "It's really easy," and then we found out it's the hardest place to shoplift from—and they kind of got it down to disturbing the peace, but if anybody dug into my record they would see that it was grand larceny.

What was the punishment?

Shit, what was it? Community service? A fine? I don't remember. But I just remember I was, "I don't want to go to jail." It felt really bad, being arrested. You have no say. And it was embarrassing. I was relieved because I got caught doing this other thing—had they caught me for the thing I'd been doing for years and years, I would probably have had to do time. So, relieved actually. But it sucked.

Was it easy for you to stop after that?

No. I missed it. It was a physical longing. It was hard. I don't ever get impulses anymore. It's been years.

ON HER COMEDY BOOT CAMP:

When you've talked your childhood and youth, you've detailed uncomfortable and difficult things that happened.

Yeah. After my dad got MS and we went bankrupt and my mom left him, that period from age 12 to 15 was a really rough time. And we all suffered from it, my siblings and I. It was just a major struggle, more so than most kids should ever have to deal with. [Pause] We weren't beaten. We weren't molested.

How did whatever happened then affect you?

It made me fearless and unbreakable and so strong. And a leader and maternal.

Did you realize it was making you like that at the time?

Yeah. I was like "I'm a badass."

And is it too trite to see a very direct line from that into what you do now?

No. Very clear. Especially the taking so much pain and making it into something to laugh at. That was my boot camp, those ages. I've just been in training to do everything I'm doing right now.