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.
Climate change.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 August 2026 source ↗
Losing my makeup bag.
Rats. We had one swim up our loo recently, it was horrific.
That I’ll become a recluse with too many dogs.
Heights, and not getting along with people.
Fifteen years ago, I totally forgot my lines on stage and was mortified. We skipped two pages of dialogue and took three minutes off the play – to the delight of the audience!
“Let’s face it, you’re not Ingrid Bergman.” I was 19 and he was a potential boyfriend. My only thought at the time was: “I’m not?”
Not keeping off the last 5lbs.
A dress designer.
At the election of Joe Biden, thinking we were out of the woods. Wrong.
Don’t answer every question you’re asked.
Frank McCourt, Joyce Carol Oates, Father John Misty, Rafael Nadal, Neil Patrick Harris, Paul McKenna
Search the directory for somebody in particular.