Juliet Stevenson: If you could edit your past, what would you change?

If you could edit your past, what would you change?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Juliet Stevenson said elsewhere, not written here

I would find a much better way of looking after my mum in her last three years of dementia. I did my best, but it was incredibly difficult to find the right kind of care unless you’ve got £3,000 a week to spend.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 203 →

Felicity Jones British actress

I wouldn’t change anything. Life is what it is, you just have to get on with it.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 May 2023 source ↗

Joanne Froggatt English actress

I’d change my mindset and not be so hard on myself, and impart the knowledge that other people’s intentions aren’t always as well-meaning as my own.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2019 source ↗

Cerys Matthews Welsh singer-songwriter

I’d be born a man and have a wife to run the house.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 July 2016 source ↗

Noah Harari Israeli historian and philosopher

I would like to come out at 16 or 17, and not 21.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 October 2021 source ↗