Serena Williams
United States professional tennis player, 1995–2022
Any lost match is, of course, disappointing, but every loss is a lesson to be learned.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Not winning Celebrity MasterChef. I am still gutted, despite many months of pretending to be fine with it.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 369 →My wife and I were meant to meet Frank Sinatra before he went on stage in Hamburg. But there was a taxi-drivers’ strike and we were too late.
Not joining the circus.
Melissa McCarthy
American actress
That in 2019 we’re still dealing with people hating people or people wanting to keep women down. That we haven’t evolved past that is a huge disappointment.
More from Dawn O’Porter
View profile →So far, getting older has made almost everything better.
When they ruin my story because they think theirs is better, so butt in before I’ve finished mine.
My Auntie Jane. She took me in, aged 10, and, after my mother died, healed my broken heart by filling our dining room with food and people. Still cooking at the grand old age of 89. My icon.
A drunk woman who threw epic dinner parties.
When I ruin someone else’s story because I think mine is better, so butt in before they’ve finished theirs.
The early days of motherhood. We lived in a sweet little bungalow in LA that had a pool. We threw lots of parties. We had a cute dog and a mad Siamese. Trump had never been president, we’d never heard of coronavirus, Claire’s Accessories was still going strong. Good times.
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