Monica Lewinsky: If you could alter one thing about yourself, what would it be?

The question

If you could alter one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Originally asked

Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire

Verbatim recurring item in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire; two publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Monica Lewinsky

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

How my PTSD manifests—it feels like being the only ballerina in the company saddled with a 100-pound backpack and told to go out onstage and still be graceful.

The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 August 2021 source ↗

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Brooke Shields

I would erase my fear of dying, but I suppose that would be erasing some of my human condition.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 18 February 2025 source ↗

Patti Smith Musician, poet and photographer

I would love to have a better sense of physical balance.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 24 July 2024 source ↗

Naomi Campbell

I’m not going to change anything about myself. I am happy and blessed with what God gave me, and I really have nothing to complain about.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 5 April 2021 source ↗

Derek Sivers Founder of CD Baby; author of Anything You Want

So for years I kept calling myself an entrepreneur until one day I realized like, wait a second, this is expired! Like somebody who is an athlete in high school can’t keep calling himself an athlete forever.

Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 23 April 2023 source ↗

More from Monica Lewinsky

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Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

It’s a toss-up between a tarantula crawling on me and dying alone.

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

Question Which quality in your friends matters most to you? Relationships

Compassion. Wisdom. Wit. The delicate balance of knowing when I need tough love and when I need support. Plus, call me crazy, but I’m also partial to friends who don’t surreptitiously record our calls.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 August 2021 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

My mom, for her unflappable ability to be sanguine (though she sometimes dips into Pollyanna territory).

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

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