Monica Lewinsky: What do you fear most?

The question

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.

Monica Lewinsky

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

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

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

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Jack Whitehall English comedian, actor, presenter and writer

Turning into my father.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2023 source ↗

Gayle King Broadcaster

I know we all have to die, but when my time comes, I’d rather it not be because a goose flew into the engine of a plane I’m on.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2016 source ↗

Serena Williams United States professional tennis player, 1995–2022

I don’t think about my greatest fear.

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

Diahann Carroll

Walking into a room filled with friends and family singing “Happy Birthday” to me and I am completely naked.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, February 2014 source ↗

More from Monica Lewinsky

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Question If you could alter one thing about yourself, what would it be? Identity & self

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.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 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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