Impatience and anger.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2022 source ↗
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
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.
I repeat stories (like my mum used to).
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 242 →
Melissa Etheridge
Singer, songwriter and guitarist
Deplore is a heavy word. I don’t deplore it but I constantly feel the pull of my old Midwestern ways of eating. Boy, can I put some pancakes away.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2023 source ↗
Maureen O'Hara
Irish and American actress and singer
I’d rather name one for someone else. I’m egomaniacal.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2014 source ↗
I can go for weeks without opening the mail. I can look at a letter that has just dropped through the letterbox, wonder what it is and then just shred it.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 November 2024 source ↗
More from Alison Steadman
View profile →I once bought the most expensive moisturiser in the shop and it brought me out in spots. Lesson learned.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
When I read about the abuse of Baby P.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
A critic once said she wanted to lift a carpet, put me under it and hold it down until I stopped moving.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
When my son was born and I realised I was a mum.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
Playing a pregnant woman, and not being able to find the padding - I shoved a cardie under my dress, and spent the whole play walking around with a sleeve dragging along the floor.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
Friendly and warm.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
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