Kelly Macdonald
Scottish actress
Not enjoying tap dancing.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
That most men have not yet come to understand the impact and the devastating consequences of violence against women.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 366 →
Bill Bailey
Comedian and musician
Not being chosen as the next Bond.
Rob Brydon
Welsh actor and comedian
Meeting Rod Stewart.
Meera Syal
British writer and actress
Not being able to keep up piano lessons. I did a year and I was really good and loved it and then my parents couldn’t afford for me to continue.
More from Eve Ensler
View profile →I would have honoured my body, I would have lived inside it, cherished it and protected it.
In my 60s. So many things that tortured me when I was younger have fallen away. Writing The Apology, the letter I wrote in my father’s voice, apologising for abusing me, has freed me from the last vestiges of anger, confusion, rancour and hate. It released me from a frame that had determined my life.
Nine years ago I discovered I had stage 3/4 uterine cancer and went through nine months of excruciating surgery, illness and chemotherapy. In that time, I touched death and it was the most powerful transformation of my life. I was forced to learn to take care of my body.
As being useful.
Going off all technology.
More on failure & regret
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 63 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this
Nora Ephron, Irvine Welsh, Marian Keyes, Rose Tremain, Tony Ross, Viv Albertine
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All failure & regret questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject