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.
Not being able to work.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 February 2026 source ↗
The loss of physical, financial, and psychological independence.
Every actor has the same fear – ie, you’re never going to work again.
Democracy proves to be a Potemkin village and gross inequality becomes our permanent way of life.
Any misfortune involving our kids. Also, I have recurring nightmares that involve being chased by people or being attacked by scary animals.
My parents, because I rather slipped from their standards on more than one occasion. And when they got older, I wish I’d been kinder and more tolerant with them.
Learning lines.
Friendly, opinionated, hilarious.
Removal of fear and anxiety.
Insurance – it’s such a scam.
I didn’t get a part in a TV series for a writer that I’ve always wanted to work with, but I wasn’t right for it, if I’m truly honest.
Jon Sopel, Whoopi Goldberg, Lena Dunham, Kevin Rowland, Alan Titchmarsh, Dolly Parton
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