There are yards and yards and yards of abuse every day. I ignore the lot of it.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2023 source ↗
failure
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.
One of 24 questions in The Q&A here.
On the record
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
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Any age
In their thirties 11
In their forties 12
In their fifties 22
In their sixties 12
Seventy and beyond 14
I stopped drinking 18 or 19 years ago, and in an argument someone who will remain nameless said: “Oh just go and have a drink.” It was nasty.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2023 source ↗
The music journalist Paul Morley described me as bland.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 November 2023 source ↗
A radio presenter said I had yellow teeth – to my face. When I was 45, a manager in LA said I was too old to work in Hollywood; and then she rang my agent and said, “Can you tell your client never to wear that perfume again because it made me feel sick.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 April 2024 source ↗
“Your cooking sucks” – before I learned to cook in Covid.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 September 2024 source ↗
A headmaster said I was a complete washout and I would never be any good for anything.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 December 2024 source ↗
“Next! We’re looking for somebody else.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 February 2025 source ↗
This was said about me in a Radio 1 focus group: “I don’t pay my licence fee to hear scummy northerners.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 August 2025 source ↗
The melanoma has returned in your lung.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2025 source ↗
I get a lot of abuse online because of my opposition to the assault on Gaza. The abuse is horrific, but I’ve learned to ignore it. The integrity of how you live your life is more important than what strangers think.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2026 source ↗
“You don’t stand a chance of succeeding as a writer in this country. The demographics are against you.” They were wrong. The only demographic that counts is the human heart.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2026 source ↗
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 ↗
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