Philippa Dunne: 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.

PD

Philippa Dunne

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I’ve a phobia of statues. It does go back to childhood. My parents brought me to look at a French church late at night. Since then I can’t deal with them.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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A Broadway theater filled with nothing but critics.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2021 source ↗

Either living up to or not living up to my potential.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2017 source ↗

Rita Wilson American actress, singer, and producer

Losing my memory. My mom had Alzheimer’s disease, and I never ever want to have that decline.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 April 2023 source ↗

Becoming dickish.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2012 source ↗

More from Philippa Dunne

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Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

Any time I’m in rehearsals.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

You are your own greatest asset.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

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

An actor. I watched a lot of TV because we lived in the countryside and the weather was so bad.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

I started my career not getting jobs, but then you learn that 95% of this job is not getting jobs, and you just have to make peace with it.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

Question What worries you about getting older? Time & hindsight

Becoming invisible.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

Question What one change would most improve the quality of your daily life? Daily life

If I needed less sleep.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

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