Julian Lennon
English musician, photographer, and philanthropist
Fear, anxiety and panic attacks.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Question
How would you like to die?
Death & what remains
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.
My distractibility, diminishing memory, and capacity for sustained concentration. My English master once said I had the brain of a butterfly. I feel that 40 years later, I’ve evolved into Dory from Finding Nemo.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2020 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →
Marina Abramović
Performance artist
My difficulty to forgive.
Angela Griffin
British actress and television presenter
Catastrophising.
Ed Harris
American actor and director
Asking my wife questions that don't need to be asked.
More from Helena Bonham Carter
View profile →Both of the days my children were born. It was like I’d stepped through a mirror and everything turned Technicolor.
The loss of anything, be it a loved one or a faculty—my sight, hearing, or mind.
My mother. She’s 85 and rather than diminishing with age, she keeps surprising and growing more marvelous. She finds fun when most are jaded, wonder when most are cynical, and is curious when most are bored. She gave me life and continues to show me how to live it daily. And I know that everyone who meets her thinks the same.
In my bed, a hot-water bottle on my tummy, the windows are open, reading a book that I’m already into, chocolate at hand, all with the knowledge that everyone I love and know is happy.
At the right time, and like my father—utterly without fear or pain, at home, with all whom I love. It was his last lesson as a parent to me.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Romesh Ranganathan, Jack Whitehall, Pauline McLynn, Julie Andrews, Alison Steadman, Matthew Modine
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- All identity & self questions
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