Joseph Fiennes
English actor
That fear becomes too great.
Identity & self
What is your greatest fear?
256 answers answered between 1999 and 2026 one of 5 in The Proust Questionnaire
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.
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Mike Skinner
English rapper
That I might have to do a normal job.
Johnny Flynn
British actor and musician
I’ve got vertigo, so anything to do with heights.
James Norton
English actor
Rats. We had one swim up our loo recently, it was horrific.
Vick Hope
British television and radio presenter
When I was growing up, I thought quicksand was going to be a much bigger fear to contend with on a day‑to-day basis. It hasn’t proved to be a bother yet, but there’s still time.
Rosie Jones
British comedian and actress
Not being liked.
Helen George
English actress
Having no purpose.
Daryl McCormack
Irish actor
Not actualising my full potential.
Jack Whitehall
English comedian, actor, presenter and writer
Turning into my father.
A plane that I’m on plunging into the sea. Aside from that, pigeons.
Heights, and not getting along with people.
When I see older generations struggling with technology, I am afraid of it moving so quickly that I can’t use it.
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.
Dying: I’m too iconic to go.
Perfectionism that leads to procrastination.
Regrets. That’s no way to live.
Not trying something I really want to do.
Having no way of earning money.
Crashing in an aeroplane into an ocean at night.
Endless vomiting. That comes from my emetophobia, which is a huge part of my OCD.
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