I’m monstrously judgmental. It’s like talking to the pope.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 March 2026 source ↗
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2019 source ↗
I’m monstrously judgmental. It’s like talking to the pope.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 March 2026 source ↗
I thought that I had lost for a reason, and I thought that I was a little unseasoned and immature, and I had — the way I made decisions my first term, I got a lot done, but I was better at doing what I wanted to do than listening to other people about what they thought I should be doing or how they thought I ought to be doing it.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗
Shyness. It really held me back when I was younger, and I wish it hadn’t. I do a better job of not being so shy these days.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 October 2022 source ↗
Any type of indecision.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2009 source ↗
The death of my loved ones.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2019 source ↗
The very short instant right after accomplishing something very challenging.
Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 December 2019 source ↗
The age. I would like to be 30 years old now.
Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 12 December 2019 source ↗
Pedro Almodóvar, for being loyal to his personality as an artist against all the odds.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2019 source ↗
I don’t like fake people, impostors.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2019 source ↗
Adam Kay, Adam Lambert, Adele Parks, Adrian Dunbar, Al Franken, Alex Hassell
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