Charlotte Church
Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
A barrister, a vet or a singer.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
A hairdresser – I still want to be a hairdresser.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 July 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 191 →A detective. Or a writer. Or a poet.
Dominic West
English actor
I wanted to race cars.
I was a huge daydreamer and imagined myself as a successful general leading his troops into battle.
More from Pauline McLynn
View profile →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.
I hope the happiest moment is still ahead of me.
I talk over people all the time.
Actors live in a constant state of disappointment. I’ll never be happy with what I’ve done.
Never be rigid in your thinking, be open.
More on identity & self
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Adrian Edmondson, Aidan Gillen, Ann Dowd, Anna Friel, Anna Paquin, Ashley Jensen
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