Richard Eyre: 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.

Richard Eyre

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Edward Bond, the playwright, said I was like a turd flowing on the effluent of British culture.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 February 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Michelle Visage

I’ve heard it all: too fat, too short, no talent. Those are the things that cut me deep when I was younger, but now they drive me.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 January 2024 source ↗

Ed Harris American actor and director

'You're not free.'

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 August 2007 source ↗

Hamza Yassin

There’s a tweet somewhere saying, “If you like Africa so much, why don’t you go back there.” It was because I dedicated one of my dances to my three mothers – Mother Africa, Mother Nature and my mother.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 September 2023 source ↗

Sharon Corr Musical artist

I can’t disclose that because it’s not suitable for public airing, but it was truly awful; they’ve since said worse.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 June 2023 source ↗