Toby Stephens: If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? — FLAPSS

The question

If you could revise one chapter of 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.

TS

Toby Stephens

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

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 203 →

Patricia Hodge English actress

Not applying myself enough at school.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 September 2018 source ↗

Kim Gordon American musician and artist

I wouldn’t care so much what people thought.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2020 source ↗

Clare Bailey Mosley

I wouldn’t because everything is connected with everything else.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 December 2025 source ↗

Patrisse Khan-Cullors American artist and activist

My mentally ill brother going to juvenile hall when he was 14. It led to his incarceration from 14 to almost 40.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 March 2018 source ↗

More from Toby Stephens

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Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

To be completely alone.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗

Question When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

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.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗

Question What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

A review of Phèdre said – because I was quite large at the time – Toby Stephens’s Hippolytus needs to get on a StairMaster.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗

Question Which book do you still mean to read, and why has it stayed on your list? Taste & recommendation

Ulysses – I’ve tried many times and never got through it.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

Never ever think that things are going to turn out all right.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗

Question What most recently moved you to tears? Identity & self

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.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗

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