Kiefer Sutherland
British and Canadian actor
I would take things a little slower.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
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Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
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Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
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What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
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.
There was a very large part of my 20s where I was an alcoholic, and an addict. When I lost my dad to cirrhosis, I knew that the only difference between us was that, tragically, he couldn’t stop whereas I could.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 205 →
Tim Rice
English lyricist and author
I would definitely change the way one or two relationships ended.
Charlotte Church
Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
Trusting some men.
Belinda Carlisle
American singer
I wouldn’t take back the drugs, but there are a few boyfriends that I’d edit out of my life.
More from Toby Stephens
View profile →Never ever think that things are going to turn out all right.
A review of Phèdre said – because I was quite large at the time – Toby Stephens’s Hippolytus needs to get on a StairMaster.
To be completely alone.
Ulysses – I’ve tried many times and never got through it.
I was in a restaurant with my daughter in Los Angeles and I had an accident involving a stomach upset. That was mortifying for both of us.
I cry all the time. It’s embarrassing. I mostly cry when my children perform something at school. My wife regularly says, “Do you see any other fathers weeping?” But I can’t stop myself.
More on failure & regret
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- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 124 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 124 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 74 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 38 answers
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