Charles Collingwood: What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?

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.

Recorded Charles Collingwood said elsewhere, not written here

In an audition at the Royal Court, this man called out, “Were you trained?”

The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 March 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Richard Eyre

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

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

Maggie O'Farrell Irish-British novelist

“You’ll never walk again.” This was when I was eight or nine and recovering from viral encephalitis.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 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 ↗

Bruno Tonioli Italian choreographer

Growing up as a gay boy in a small town, you get used to people saying bad things pretty quickly.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 April 2023 source ↗