Paula Wilcox: 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.

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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Jamie Lee Curtis

Not doing the above.

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

Marina Abramović Performance artist

To be eaten by a shark.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 October 2024 source ↗

Pauline McLynn Irish character actress and author

Not being able to breathe – I get very panicky at the thought.

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

Naming my greatest fear, because then I’ll have to admit it, won’t I?

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, February 2024 source ↗

More from Paula Wilcox

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Question What is the worst job you have ever had? Craft & work

I don’t think I’ve ever done a job that I hate. I worked as a temp briefly when I was out of work and it was fun.

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

Question What thought won't let you sleep? 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 ↗

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

A driver or a helicopter.

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

Question When did you last change your mind about something important? 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 most recently moved you to tears? 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 is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

We’ve run out of champagne.

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

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