My greatest fear is going out onstage and having the audience just stare at me.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
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.
Not being able to breathe – I get very panicky at the thought.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 July 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 256 →Dependency. Fascism.
To lose the ability to do my work.
I am spooked by water underground, water in drains and water in machinery. I am very frightened of mill wheels.
More from Pauline McLynn
View profile →A hairdresser – I still want to be a hairdresser.
I hope the happiest moment is still ahead of me.
Never be rigid in your thinking, be open.
Actors live in a constant state of disappointment. I’ll never be happy with what I’ve done.
Eight or nine years ago, I disgraced myself in the Japanese ambassador’s home in Dublin, at a celebration for my late mother-in-law’s book about living in Japan. Afterwards, when I had to apologise, she told me it was the worst night of her life and, because I was drunk enough not to remember the details, it will never not be the most embarrassing night of my life. People are filling in details even now – “Remember when you fell under the table during the first course?”
Walking along Oxford Street on Saturday pulling a shopping trolley that my mother bought me. I remember saying, “I’m never going to use that!” and there I was, very grateful to have it in my life. She died before Christmas and I can’t ring her to tell her that she was right.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 243 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 195 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 111 answers
- What are you most proud of? 103 answers
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