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.

Others on this question

View all 122 →
Billy Crudup
I was going to a bar with friends and there was a line at the door. I’d been there before and asked the doorman to skip the line. He said, “Oh, I remember you, you were in Almost Famous, weren’t you?” And I said, “Yeah.” And he goes, “Yeah, get back in line.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 February 2026 source ↗
Ben Okri
“You don’t stand a chance of succeeding as a writer in this country. The demographics are against you.” They were wrong. The only demographic that counts is the human heart.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2026 source ↗

More from Layton Williams

View profile →

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

PP Arnold, Jon Snow, Adam Lambert, Fran Healy, Maya Jama, Rebecca Lucy Taylor

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer