Malala Yousafzai: What do you fear most?

The question

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.

Malala Yousafzai

Education campaigner; co-founder of the Malala Fund; United Nations Messenger of Peace

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Losing my family. And fear that the world won't become a better place.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2019 source ↗

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Tom Fletcher

I’m afraid of the dark.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 November 2025 source ↗

Kellie Maloney Retired boxing manager, promoter and politician

Losing my family.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 August 2024 source ↗

Antonio Banderas

The death of my loved ones.

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

Luise Rainer

To be abandoned.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, March 2010 source ↗

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Question What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? Failure & regret

I had two options. One was to remain silent and wait to be killed. And the second was to speak up and then be killed. I chose the second one. I decided to speak up.

Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2014 source ↗

Question If you could put a message on a giant billboard, what would it say and why? Time & hindsight

Why is it that countries which we call strong are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it, why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?

Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2014 source ↗

Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

Being grateful for what you have.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 July 2019 source ↗

Question What is one of the best investments you have made — of money, time, or energy? Money & investment

Her story is why I dedicate the Nobel Peace Prize money to the Malala Fund, to help give girls quality education, everywhere, anywhere in the world and to raise their voices. The first place this funding will go to is where my heart is, to build schools in Pakistan—especially in my home of Swat and Shangla.

Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2014 source ↗

Question If you could alter one thing about yourself, what would it be? Identity & self

I'm trying to be more organized.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 July 2019 source ↗

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

I hate it when my little brothers don't close their mouths when they're eating.

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

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