"I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say"
About this Quote
The subtext is reputational triage. Bergman’s career was a case study in how quickly admiration turns into moral policing, especially for women whose private lives become public property. After her affair with Roberto Rossellini and the scandal that followed, she was castigated in the American press and even condemned on the Senate floor - a reminder that celebrity culture has always had institutional muscle behind it. Her statement reads as an exit from that courtroom. She refuses to perform remorse as currency for re-entry.
It also works because it’s rhetorically tight: “I wouldn’t have lived my life the way I did” sets her choices as coherent, not accidental; “worry about what people were going to say” reduces the outrage machine to chatter. She diminishes the supposed moral majority into noise. Coming from an actress, it’s also a meta-commentary on craft: she spent her life inhabiting roles, then insists her actual self isn’t another role to be directed by gossip, critics, or lawmakers. The intent isn’t to excuse; it’s to reclaim authorship.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Bergman, Ingrid. (2026, January 17). I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-no-regrets-i-wouldnt-have-lived-my-life-31593/
Chicago Style
Bergman, Ingrid. "I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-no-regrets-i-wouldnt-have-lived-my-life-31593/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-no-regrets-i-wouldnt-have-lived-my-life-31593/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.









