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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.

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Others on this question

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In a rehearsal just after graduating from drama college, I say my lines to an older actor. He pauses, turns to the director and says: “I’m sorry, but is she going to do it like that?”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗
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 ↗
Adam Kay British comedy writer, author, youtuber, comedian and former physician
A reviewer once called me “artistically bankrupt”, and it doesn’t feel like reviews can get much worse than that.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2023 source ↗
“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.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗

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