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.

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Recorded Sarah Hadland said elsewhere, not written here
“You’ll never, ever work.” When you are young and full of hopes and dreams it’s devastating. I am just grateful that I thought: “Well, I’m going to try.”

The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗

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Romesh Ranganathan English actor and comedian
My wife when I tried out some new material on her, said: “I’m sure the people who like you would like that.”
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 August 2024 source ↗
It’s that bad, I’d never repeat it. I’ll just say it was particularly cruel and incredibly racist. It was somebody that I used to date, at the end of the relationship, and it hurt very deeply.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 December 2023 source ↗
When I was first acting, in college, a relative came and saw me in Hedda Gabler and she said: “Look in the mirror, you’re not an actor. An actor looks like Mel Gibson.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 February 2024 source ↗

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