Rebecca Lucy Taylor: 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.

Rebecca Lucy Taylor

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I was recently made to feel that it’s my mental health that’s the problem and not the system.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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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 ↗

Bruce Dickinson English heavy metal singer

“What makes you think you are so special?”

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

Ciarán Hinds

As a young actor, again at the Citizens theatre, I was making an exit and a theatregoer leaned over the balcony and said, “You’re terrible!”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 July 2025 source ↗

Hugh Skinner

I’m not interested.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 May 2026 source ↗

More from Rebecca Lucy Taylor

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Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

I am consistently disappointed in the music industry. Every time someone says that I’m underrated, that feels extremely disappointing because I’ve done my end of the bargain.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗