The question
What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
“You sing like a goat.” When I did my French album [Voila], this French woman – a supposed friend – said to my face: “It’s fantastic but, how come you sound like a chèvre?” It was like someone had hit me in the stomach.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 March 2023 source ↗
A review of Phèdre said – because I was quite large at the time – Toby Stephens’s Hippolytus needs to get on a StairMaster.
It’s that bad, I’d never repeat it. I’ll just say it was particularly cruel and incredibly racist. It was somebody that I used to date, at the end of the relationship, and it hurt very deeply.
Apart from stuff on social media, an ex-partner telling me I’m unlovable.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to insult you, but did you know you look a bit like that actress Siobhán McSweeney?”
I’ve been doing pilates for 25 years and I swear by it. I decided to kit out a room with pilates equipment – and I think it’s the most expensive thing I’ve invested in.
As a singer who did everything her way, no compromise.
Pamela Anderson, because I love her strength and honesty and vulnerability at the same time.
On stage in Tasmania, I tripped over a floor monitor and landed on my back like a turtle, kicking my legs in the air trying to get back on my feet in front of about 5,000 people. But when I got on my feet, the whole crowd roared in triumph.
I wouldn’t take back the drugs, but there are a few boyfriends that I’d edit out of my life.
A travel agent, so I could see the world.
Bryn Terfel, Adam Lambert, Fran Healy, David Hasselhoff, Olly Alexander, Bruce Dickinson
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