When were you happiest?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Audra McDonald said elsewhere, not written here
In the hospital giving birth to my second daughter with my first daughter right there in the room as it was happening. I don’t remember any pain. I just remember feeling more alive and full of fierce mama bear love than at any other point in my life.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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The night my daughter was born, New York, December 29, 1997. After she emerged and I held her in the palm of my hand, I walked around Manhattan in a stupor of happiness.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2009 source ↗
I'm a happy guy in general, but the feeling of freedom and fun I got driving around with my friends in my first car is hard to top.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2020 source ↗
Sarah Parish English actress
In the first month of my second daughter Nell’s life. My first daughter, Ella-Jayne, was born with a serious heart defect so I didn’t get to just be a mum, I was a carer for the eight months of her life and lived in a hospital. When Nell was born, having a healthy child and being able to be a mum was incredible.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 December 2019 source ↗
Björn Ulvaeus Swedish musician
If it wasn’t for coronavirus, it would be right now. All my life I’ve felt a pressure to achieve. It’s gone now, and that gives me a sense of freedom. Whenever I, for short moments, forget about corona and climate change, I’m happy.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 June 2020 source ↗

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