Eve Ensler: What has been your biggest disappointment? — FLAPSS

The question

What has been your biggest disappointment?

Originally asked

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

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

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

EE

Eve Ensler

American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

That most men have not yet come to understand the impact and the devastating consequences of violence against women.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 377 →

Dawn O'Porter British writer, director, and television presenter

Not winning Celebrity MasterChef. I am still gutted, despite many months of pretending to be fine with it.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗

Eddie Marsan British actor

Plumbing in LA.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 August 2014 source ↗

Russell Tovey English actor

Never learning to play the piano.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 October 2010 source ↗

David Jason English actor

At the time, not landing the role of Lance-Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army, but it all worked out fine in the long run.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 May 2021 source ↗

More from Eve Ensler

View profile →

Question When were you happiest? Time & hindsight

In my 60s. So many things that tortured me when I was younger have fallen away. Writing The Apology, the letter I wrote in my father’s voice, apologising for abusing me, has freed me from the last vestiges of anger, confusion, rancour and hate. It released me from a frame that had determined my life.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question If you could edit your past, what would you change? Failure & regret

I would have honoured my body, I would have lived inside it, cherished it and protected it.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question What single thing would improve the quality of your life? Daily life

Going off all technology.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question How close have you come to death? Death & what remains

Nine years ago I discovered I had stage 3/4 uterine cancer and went through nine months of excruciating surgery, illness and chemotherapy. In that time, I touched death and it was the most powerful transformation of my life. I was forced to learn to take care of my body.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question What would you like to be remembered for? Death & what remains

As being useful.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

Judith Kerr, Paul Theroux, Kate Mosse, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Kay, Pauline McLynn

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

All failure & regret questions
The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject

Report this answer