Johannes Radebe: 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

I’ll never amount to anything. Who? He was my rival at dance school. It hurt and is something that I’ve always had in the back of my head to defy.

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

Others on this question

View all 122 →

Meghann Fahy

I had a casting director once stop me in the middle of an audition and tell me to go wash my face in the bathroom because she felt my makeup was too distracting, but I wasn’t wearing any. It was mortifying. It felt like a power play and I was so young, I didn’t know what to do.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2026 source ↗

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 ↗

Nuala McGovern

One time an engineer said, “I always forget your frequency is at the same level as a crying baby.” I think he was on to something, because I have been told to shush many times over the years.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 November 2025 source ↗

Ciarán Hinds