Skip to content

The question

How close have you come to dying?

Originally asked

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

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

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

MB
Munroe Bergdorf
Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Before transitioning, I had a severe eating disorder. The doctor said, “Your body’s shutting down and if you don’t improve your mental and physical wellbeing, you’ll die.” Shortly after that, I started transitioning medically and my eating disorder resolved.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 July 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 209 →
Justin Hawkins
A flight from Paraguay to South Africa that went badly wrong. The plane nearly fell out of the sky and the oxygen masks dropped. People were screaming but the pilot saved the day, and then apparently never flew again.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2025 source ↗
Laurence Fox English actor and activist
A motorbike crash. I broke my shoulder and ribs and was so scared I didn’t ride for two years.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 December 2019 source ↗
Paul Heaton British musician
Again, too many times to mention, but probably being swung from the balcony at the top of the Columbia hotel in London by the bodyguard of a Saudi Arabian princess was fairly close.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2020 source ↗
Gary Numan British musician
I was an air display pilot for 15 years, and watched most of my friends die in crashes. When the children came along, I got out of it.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 July 2017 source ↗

More from Munroe Bergdorf

View profile →

More on death & what remains

Also answered this

Desmond Tutu, Ray Mears, Tracey Ullman, David Hasselhoff, Sofia Helin, Steph McGovern

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer