John Waters: What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?

What is the worst 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 John Waters said elsewhere, not written here

'Do you have a hobby?' It was a journalist. I went into a tirade: 'How dare you presume I'm a dabbler!'

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2008 source ↗

Others on this question

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Craig Charles English actor

I was born in 1964, in the most working-class area of Liverpool, so the N-word was bandied around a lot.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 July 2024 source ↗

Fiona Allen

The second agent I had said: “The thing is, you look like something but then you open your mouth.” So I got myself a sketch show and left, and she lost out.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 August 2026 source ↗

Toby Stephens

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 ↗

Bruno Tonioli Italian choreographer

Growing up as a gay boy in a small town, you get used to people saying bad things pretty quickly.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 April 2023 source ↗