OA
It’s the stuff about my appearance that sticks. I read I had a face like a crumpled napkin and teeth that could till a field.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 March 2025 source ↗
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
View all 122 →I was thrown out of a club by bouncers when I walked into somebody and told them that I was registered blind. They said: “Don’t give a fuck – you don’t belong in here.” As a straight white man, it gives you a taste of what other people have to contend with.
Paapa Essiedu
British actor
Called me the N-word.
That I am a terrible actor.
Racial and homophobic slurs – the F- and N-words. When I moved to London, people screamed the F-word from their cars, and that stings.
More from Olly Alexander
View profile →I can be an overthinker and a vicious self-critic.
At the Mighty Hoopla festival, Kimberley and Nicola from Girls Aloud joined me on stage for a Girls Aloud song. I completely forgot the words.
Like something or someone is part of your DNA, the fabric of who you are.
Jill Nalder. Lydia West played her character in It’s a Sin. She was on the wards with nurses caring for patients who were dying [of Aids] when lots of people wouldn’t go near them.
Early in my career I got really close to being one of the kids in the Narnia movie. I remember being crushed.
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