Nikki Amuka-Bird: What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?

The question

What is the harshest 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 said elsewhere, not written here

In a rehearsal just after graduating from drama college, I say my lines to an older actor. He pauses, turns to the director and says: “I’m sorry, but is she going to do it like that?”

The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 122 →

Jon Snow

“You pinko!” by a Tory minister signing off at the end of an interview with me during the EU referendum campaign.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 March 2024 source ↗

Keir Starmer

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 ↗

Ally McCoist

“You’re getting old.” My son Harris was factually correct, but I didn’t need to hear it.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 November 2024 source ↗

Ciarán Hinds

As a young actor, again at the Citizens theatre, I was making an exit and a theatregoer leaned over the balcony and said, “You’re terrible!”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 July 2025 source ↗