Failure & regret

What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?

122 answers answered between 2007 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

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On the record

Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Read by field Everyone Arts and letters 114 Politics and public life 7 Sport 1
Read by age Any age Before thirty 1 In their thirties 21 In their forties 21 In their fifties 31 In their sixties 25 Seventy and beyond 22
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Robert Carlyle Scottish actor
On Angela's Ashes, Alan Parker said to me, 'You've got the Bafta, just get in the door.' I was walking along the street to go into a shop and he saw me milking it a bit. It was a really good piece of advice.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
John Waters American filmmaker
'Do you have a hobby?' It was a journalist. I went into a tirade: 'How dare you presume I'm a dabbler!'
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2008 source ↗
Alison Steadman British actress
A critic once said she wanted to lift a carpet, put me under it and hold it down until I stopped moving.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
David Hasselhoff American actor, singer, and television personality
"You can't see your children for two weeks." (When I was going through my divorce.)
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 April 2009 source ↗
Edward Enninful Ghanaian-born English editor and stylist
Any time I’ve been racially profiled. The words might be different, but the feeling is the same.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2022 source ↗
Rosie Jones British comedian and actress
“You’re not funny.” I fully understand why my comedy might not be right for everyone, but don’t tell me, get on with your day!
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 December 2022 source ↗
Paul McKenna British hypnotist and TV personality
“Oh, he’s all about money.” I’ve never charged anyone in all the years I’ve been doing one-to-one work. That’s my gift to the world.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 January 2023 source ↗
Adam Lambert American singer
“You’re never going to make it.” It was some guy I was dating. I had the last laugh.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 February 2023 source ↗
Belinda Carlisle American singer
“You sing like a goat.” When I did my French album [Voila], this French woman – a supposed friend – said to my face: “It’s fantastic but, how come you sound like a chèvre?” It was like someone had hit me in the stomach.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 March 2023 source ↗
Maggie O'Farrell Irish-British novelist
“You’ll never walk again.” This was when I was eight or nine and recovering from viral encephalitis.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
Rita Wilson American actress, singer, and producer
I was opening in a play in my 20s, and my agent came on opening night, brought flowers, took me out to dinner and then told me she was no longer going to be representing me.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 April 2023 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 ↗
Michael Ball English singer, presenter and actor
“Unfortunately, Michael, I don’t think you’re ever going to work in the acting profession until you’re about 40, and then it’ll only be in minor character roles.” Drama teacher at Guildford School of Acting.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 May 2023 source ↗
Felicity Jones British actress
“You’re a reasonably intelligent girl,” by a teacher, and it drove me crazy and made me want to get into Oxford.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 May 2023 source ↗
Adam Kay British comedy writer, author, youtuber, comedian and former physician
A reviewer once called me “artistically bankrupt”, and it doesn’t feel like reviews can get much worse than that.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2023 source ↗

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