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.
People finding out my greatest fear.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 April 2026 source ↗
Dying: I’m too iconic to go.
I’ve been a strong advocate that all my five children should be great swimmers, so you can deduce what my fear is.
Safety of loved ones.
I fear the arrogance we are all at risk of, the pride that pushes us to put “I” in place of “God”. More prosaically, I fear physical pain because it risks stripping us of our dignity.
Inability to listen.
Quietly somewhat funny.
Hasn’t happened yet, it’s coming.
Wondering why I can’t sleep.
Getting even older.
My lack of foreign language skills.
Jon Sopel, Romola Garai, Don Rickles, Mariska Hargitay, Nuala McGovern, Charlotte Rampling
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