Failure & regret

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

209 answers answered between 1995 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

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.

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On the record

Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Robert Carlyle Scottish actor
I'd have concentrated a bit more at school and maybe gone to university rather than drama school.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
Omid Djalili British stand-up comedian and actor
I'd edit out all the wrong people I surrounded myself with socially and professionally whom I thought I had to tolerate.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2010 source ↗
Sofie Gråbøl Danish actress
I'd have a good, encouraging start in school – I think I'd be a different person, with fewer anxiety attacks.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 July 2014 source ↗
Dermot O'Leary British-Irish television presenter
I had my heart broken a lot in my teens, but I'm not sure I'd change it.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2014 source ↗
Heather Graham American actress
I spent too many years being hard on myself, like a drill sergeant in my head. I thought that if I was hard on myself, I’d get more results, but I now know that’s not true.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 March 2016 source ↗
Isla Fisher Australian actress
I would have tried that anti-stretch mark cream during pregnancy.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 July 2016 source ↗
The public mistakes I’ve made. Most recently, I tried to light an e-cigarette on an aeroplane and was told to put it out. I completely forgot I was on a plane. I’d had, like, three drinks, but it only takes three. I stopped as soon as I got off and I got straight back into my programme, because that’s what I do.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 August 2018 source ↗
Carlos Acosta Cuban ballet dancer
The time I told my father I hated him, causing him a lot of pain. He passed away six years ago, and my mother eight years ago.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 September 2018 source ↗
Rose McGowan American actress and activist
I wouldn’t have taken that meeting [with Weinstein in 1997].
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 December 2018 source ↗
Ralf Little English actor, writer, former semi-professional footballer
I wouldn’t have tried to break up a fight when I was 17.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 February 2020 source ↗
Russell Howard British comedian and presenter
I wouldn’t lose my virginity at an army camp and then roll over on to an ants’ nest.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 February 2020 source ↗

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