A critic once said she wanted to lift a carpet, put me under it and hold it down until I stopped moving.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
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.
Others on this question
View all 122 →“You pinko!” by a Tory minister signing off at the end of an interview with me during the EU referendum campaign.
Charles Dance
British actor
“You can’t play Maxim de Winter with ginger hair.”
Chaka Khan
American singer
A friend said, “If you remembered everything you did, you’d kill yourself.” He’s sort of crazy, but he’s probably right.
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.
More from Alison Steadman
View profile →Lack of understanding and tolerance.
I would never have smoked - I gave up years ago.
I have great hopes for Barack Obama.
Earning a living as an actor for 40 years.
Playing a pregnant woman, and not being able to find the padding - I shoved a cardie under my dress, and spent the whole play walking around with a sleeve dragging along the floor.
Friendly and warm.
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Also answered this
David Hasselhoff, Charles Dance, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Ed Harris, John Waters, Eleanor Tomlinson
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