Armistead Maupin: 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

Helen George English actress

Going through a divorce.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 January 2023 source ↗

I would not leave my teenage children to follow an unworthy love. It lasted a month and scarred the family for ever.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 December 2024 source ↗

Aidan Gillen Irish actor

The floral waistcoat and shocking-pink shirt combo I wore on my 21st.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2017 source ↗

Moments of vanity, carelessness and unkindness.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2026 source ↗

The coming out letter I wrote in Tales Of The City – it seems to be the thing that’s going to last after I’m gone.

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

As a kind man who told good stories.

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

My friend Ian McKellen, who has an extraordinary record as an actor and a gay activist.

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

Not a lawyer, which was what I told everyone, because my father wanted me to be one.

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

Search the directory for somebody in particular.