RW
When my children arrived.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 December 2017 source ↗
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.
Others on this question
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Julia Stiles
American actress
This morning when I woke up. I am generally happy.
Julie Delpy
French actress and filmmaker
When I am working on something I really like, or when I am alone with my son playing in the garden.
Simon Russell Beale
English actor
The morning after the opening of Hamlet in New York in 2000. The reviews were good and I actually punched the air – a very un-Simon Russell Beale thing to do.
Right now: Summer. Dusk. On my couch watching Australian Open tennis with my kids and dog. Doors wide open to a beautiful body of water. The first star of the night just appeared in the sky. Life is magical.
More from Rachel Whiteread
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First something medical, then, without any doubt, an artist.
Losing my parents when they were relatively young. My dad was 59 and my mum died at 72, 14 years ago.
I would have thought more about exercise and a healthy lifestyle in my 20s, 30s and 40s.
Serving tea in an insurance office to people who seemed to despise me at the age of 16 was pretty unpleasant.
A warm, frayed, soft blanket.
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