Dervla Kirwan: What is your greatest fear? — FLAPSS

The question

What is your greatest fear?

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.

DK

Dervla Kirwan

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Ironically, it’s talking to hundreds of people in a room.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 286 →

Dependency. Fascism.

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

Stockard Channing

Climate change.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 August 2026 source ↗

Anjelica Huston

Nuclear holocaust.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2019 source ↗

I don’t want to be lost and burn in hell.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2001 source ↗

More from Dervla Kirwan

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Question Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? Identity & self

Procrastination.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

Question When were you happiest? Time & hindsight

A few weeks ago, walking on the beach in Anglesey with my dogs and my husband.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

Question What scares you about getting older? Time & hindsight

Pain and loneliness.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

Question Which moment embarrassed you most? Failure & regret

Recently, sending a negative text about a person to that person.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

Question What single thing would improve the quality of your life? Daily life

A little bit more self-confidence.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

Question Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? Failure & regret

My younger self, because I was very, very tough on myself.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 October 2023 source ↗

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