Sharleen Spiteri: What do you fear most? — FLAPSS

The question

What do you fear most?

Originally asked

Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire

The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.

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

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Sharleen Spiteri

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

When I was little, a couple of rapes took place in Glasgow. I remember my mum saying to walk in the middle of the pavement, and to this day I am very conscious of where I am.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

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Rebecca Lucy Taylor

Having no way of earning money.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗

I’m a very fearless person.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2009 source ↗

Being on my deathbed and realising I’d forgotten to treat each day as the miracle that it is.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 April 2024 source ↗

Dependency. Fascism.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 December 2024 source ↗

More from Sharleen Spiteri

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Question What worries you about getting older? Time & hindsight

Nothing. I love getting old – I love the freedom it allows you.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2024 source ↗

Question As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? Identity & self

An artist, an interior designer and a vet.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2024 source ↗

Question What trait do you most dislike in other people? Values & belief

Schemes. I hate schemers.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2024 source ↗

Question What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

Somebody wrote that my voice was more numbing than novocaine.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2024 source ↗

Question How would you want people to remember you? Death & what remains

As a great songwriter.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2024 source ↗

Question What most recently moved you to tears? Identity & self

Turning on the news.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2024 source ↗

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