Paula Wilcox: 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.

PW

Paula Wilcox

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Being run over by a cyclist on a pavement or pedestrian crossing, because it’s nearly happened too frequently.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Being found out.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 1999 source ↗

Dying with a feeling of incompleteness.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2013 source ↗

Jerry Lewis American comedian, actor and filmmaker

When the audience walks toward the stage.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2011 source ↗

Rita Moreno Actor, singer and dancer

The thought that I might die with unresolved conflicts.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2022 source ↗

More from Paula Wilcox

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Question What most recently made you cry? Identity & self

I cry a lot at films; my mother and I were champion criers at Meet Me in St Louis.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

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

A driver or a helicopter.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

Question What scares you about getting older? Time & hindsight

Not to be able to do the things that you take for granted, like running up the tube steps or going somewhere under your own steam.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

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

I’m very impatient – next question.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

Question When was the last time you changed your mind about something? Change of mind

I’m trying to write my will and I keep changing my mind.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

Question What keeps you awake at night? Daily life

Anything, because I’m a worrier. Also, if I’m working on a really exciting project, I can be awake like an excited child looking forward to going on holiday.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

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