Nuala McGovern: What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?

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.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

One time an engineer said, “I always forget your frequency is at the same level as a crying baby.” I think he was on to something, because I have been told to shush many times over the years.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 November 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Desmond Tutu Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984

There will always be so many who might say, “Ah, he’s a politician masquerading as an archbishop.” Politics is so all-pervasive, and in my theology, obviously, all of life belongs to God, and you don’t have compartments, this is your economic life, this is your political life, this is your religious life. Religion encompasses all of those. But yes, I wouldn’t myself have said I was setting out to be a political animal.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗

Kate Humble

“We’d love you to be on the cover of our magazine and we’ll give you a makeover.”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Stockard Channing

“Let’s face it, you’re not Ingrid Bergman.” I was 19 and he was a potential boyfriend. My only thought at the time was: “I’m not?”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 August 2026 source ↗

Isabel Allende

“You’re a narcissist!” From someone who was a narcissist himself.

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