If you could edit your past, what would you change?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Armistead Maupin said elsewhere, not written here
I would have come out earlier.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 203 →
Rosanna Arquette American actress
I would have skipped the time my daughter was nine to 13, when I was in a toxic relationship.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2021 source ↗

Vicky McClure English actress
I wasted a year doing nothing at 18. I got with a guy and just wanted to hang out. It didn’t do me any favours.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 March 2018 source ↗

I would find a much better way of looking after my mum in her last three years of dementia. I did my best, but it was incredibly difficult to find the right kind of care unless you’ve got £3,000 a week to spend.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2026 source ↗

More from Armistead Maupin

View profile →

More on failure & regret

Also answered this · A–Z

Adam Clayton, Adam Kay, Adam Lambert, Adele Parks, Adrian Edmondson, Adrian Scarborough

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer