The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
There was a moment in my early 20s when I’d finished Emmerdale and didn’t know what was next. I drove from LA to San Francisco listening to Tracy Chapman and it felt like one of those pure moments of uncomplicated joy.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 February 2019 source ↗
When my kids were little – and now, in my old age.
August 16, 1985. My dad took me and my brothers Andre and Tony to see the Fresh Fest at the Nassau Coliseum, on Long Island. We saw Whodini, the Fat Boys, and Grandmaster Flash. Greatest day of my life. The births of my children were big days, too, but billions of people have children—only 15,000 people saw that show.
Can't quantify – I am often happy.
When my son Jason King Derulo was born.
Anybody who’s written to me and not heard back yet.
That I’ve kept all my friendships with my school friends.
Other people can decide.
Whole, full, lifted.
Until I got curtains recently, it was the orange street light.
Receiving a letter saying I didn’t get into drama school. I felt like Billy Elliot. It was a crushing moment.
Samuel L Jackson, Adrian Dunbar, Cynthia Nixon, Pauline McLynn, Nicholas Parsons, Steve Pemberton
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