Patti LaBelle: 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.

Patti LaBelle

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

COVID-19 and how it’s affecting everyone. Also, I’m afraid of not knowing when I’ll be able to perform in front of people again and enjoy an audience.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2020 source ↗

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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 ↗

Bruce Dickinson English heavy metal singer

Well, I’m not too happy about snakes. I also hate sand. It’s very inconvenient.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 July 2024 source ↗

Jane Fonda

That we won’t act fast enough to save the planet.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, May 2009 source ↗

Eleanor Tomlinson English actress

I’m terrified of time. The people I love are getting older and time seems to be going faster and faster. It’s scary. I’d like it to slow down, please.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 May 2024 source ↗

More from Patti LaBelle

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Question Which quality in your friends matters most to you? Relationships

Honesty. Tell me the truth, even if it hurts.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 11 December 2020 source ↗

Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

Being healthy. Sometimes we don’t know that we’re not healthy because we’re not going to the doctor—like me, when I first discovered I had diabetes years ago.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 11 December 2020 source ↗

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

Being too open and generous to those who don’t deserve it.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 11 December 2020 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

Having fun with my sisters back in the day. I miss playing cards and fighting over crabs with them every weekend.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2020 source ↗

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